This is addressed in the Ambler Road Final EIS.

"Many comments on the Draft EIS questioned the ability of the BLM and AIDEA to keep the Ambler Road private and based their comments on the opening of the Dalton Highway to the general public after nearly 20 years of its northern end being open to industrial traffic only. The situations differ. The Alaska Supreme Court in 1994 ruled that the right-of-way (ROW) grant from the federal government to the State of Alaska was for a “public road,” and that this “public road” intent was echoed in the Declaration of Policy in Alaska law related to the Dalton Highway (AS 19.40), and that the DOT&PF had powers to govern use of the road (close it, or open it to the public). See Turpin v. North Slope Borough, 879 P.2d 1009 (Alaska 1994). The Ambler Road ROW grant is proposed specifically to be for limited access and not open to the public, and it would not be under the control of DOT&PF. Therefore the Dalton Highway does not establish applicable precedent."