Editing Bethel, Alaska (section)

==Transportation and economy==
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The state-owned [[Bethel Airport]] is the regional transportation hub, and is served by three passenger carriers, including [[Alaska Airlines]], [[Grant Aviation]], and Renfro's Alaskan Adventure. It also receives service from three major cargo operators: [[Everts Air Cargo]], [[Northern Air Cargo]], [[Lynden Air Cargo]], and numerous small air taxi services. The airport ranks third in the state for total number of flights. It offers a 6,400 foot (1,951-meter) asphalt runway, a 4,000 foot (1,219-meter) asphalt runway, and 1,850 foot (564-meter) gravel crosswind runway, and is currently undergoing a $7 million renovation and expansion. Three float plane bases are nearby: Hangar Lake, H Marker Lake, and the [[Kuskokwim River]].

The Port of Bethel is the northernmost, medium-draft port in the United States. River travel is the primary means of local transportation in the summer. A Bethel-based [[barge]] service provides goods to [[Kuskokwim River|Kuskokwim]] villages.

Within Bethel are approximately {{convert|16|mi|km}} of roads that are not connected to any contiguous highway system. Winter ice roads lead to several nearby villages, but their condition varies depending on temperature and snowfall. An extensive network of snow machine trails connects Bethel to villages all over the Delta, from the Bering Sea to the Yukon.

The town's single paved road, about 10 miles (16&nbsp;km), supports a taxicab industry. With 93 taxi drivers, the town has more cab drivers per capita than any other city in the US. Most local cab drivers are [[Albanians|Albanian]] or [[Demographics of South Korea|South Korea]]n immigrants.<ref>{{cite news |first=Tomas Alex |last=Tizon |title=America's Taxi Capital: Bethel, Alaska|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-taxicabs30nov30,1,3238044.story?ctrack=1&cset=true|work=Los Angeles Times|date=November 30, 2007 |access-date=November 30, 2007}}</ref>

Bethel is home to the lone [[prison|detention center]] in southwestern Alaska, the Yukon Kuskokwim Correction Center.<ref>[http://www.correct.state.ak.us/corrections/institutions/ykcc/ykcc.jsf Alaska Dept of Corrections] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100113224104/http://www.correct.state.ak.us/corrections/institutions/ykcc/ykcc.jsf |date=January 13, 2010 }}</ref> This prison has a capacity of 207 inmates, men and women, and a staff of 45.<ref name=ykcc>{{cite web|url=http://www.correct.state.ak.us/institutions/yukon-kuskokwim|title=Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Center|date=2015|publisher=Alaska Department of Corrections|access-date=November 18, 2015}}</ref>

Bethel is also the site of a unique {{convert|8.5|mi|km|adj=on}} prototype [[single-wire earth return]] electrical [[intertie]] to [[Napakiak, Alaska]], constructed in 1981.<ref name="SWGR Transmission">{{cite web | url=http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/cem/ine/aetdl/conferences/2002_sept_docs/singlewiregroundreturn.pdf | title=SWGR Transmission | author= Bettine, Frank | date=September 2002 | access-date= November 7, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081029050440/http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/cem/ine/aetdl/conferences/2002_sept_docs/singlewiregroundreturn.pdf |archive-date=October 29, 2008 |work= University of Alaska }}</ref>