(FORTUNE Magazine) – Unless the Aztecs built one out of gold nuggets, the costliest gravel road in history is about to be built by the U.S. government. Congress is close to approving a 30-mile, single-lane track between two villages in the wilds of southwest Alaska. Its cost: $29 million. That's nearly $1 million a mile (plus $500,000 in annual upkeep), or roughly 16 times the cost of a similar road in a place like Iowa. It's also enough for 483,000 one-way airline tickets between King Cove and Cold Bay, which count only 1,000 residents between them.

The price tag is so big because there's nothing between the two villages except water potholes and some of America's most forbidding weather. Even the gravel will have to be imported. The National Audubon Society, fearing for local wildlife, says a helicopter or hovercraft would be wiser--and cheaper.

But Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska) says the road--likely impassable for much of the winter--would be a lifesaver: Since 1980 there have been 11 fatalities due to airplane accidents. "The residents need the road for health and safety reasons," says a Young spokeswoman.

--Jeffrey H. Birnbaum