Denali Borough Assembly approves $130,710 for June Creek subdivision road repairs

The Denali Borough Assembly approved $130,710 Wednesday for additional gravel, grading and one more culvert on June Creek subdivision roads damaged during the Bear Creek Fire response, about 20 miles north of Healy.

The money covers three change orders to a contract the assembly awarded earlier. Mayor Chris Noel told the assembly the largest, at $100,274, adds 1,200 cubic yards of pit run to Eisenhower Way so the contractor can hold grade from Washington Way through to Hoover. A second raises the grade about 6 inches on Culkin Way, where water tanks were staged during firefighting. The third pays for a culvert identified after the earlier work, where the raised roadbed created new ponding.

"So the total of these 3 change orders is $130,710," Noel said. A previously awarded change order of $32,044 for 3-inch minus on Kobe Road, from the Parks Highway to Rochester Way, pushed the cumulative total past $50,000. "The cumulative total would bring that total change order above $50,000. And so we thought it best to go ahead and bring it to the assembly for action to award," he said.

No new appropriation was needed. Ordinance 26-11 set aside $178,000 in borough funds, with the state covering the base bid and additive alternates. Noel said he checked the change-order pricing against the original award and "it's just right in line."

Residents who spoke described flooding and drainage problems. One testifier said they had driven the road and watched rain run straight across the new gravel. Presiding Officer Jared Zimmerman said the center of Eisenhower Way has sat 6 inches below the ditches for years. "After the fire this year, the water came down, there was a river," he said. "I had to wear my waders to do my chores."

Before the vote, the assembly amended the resolution's language after Zimmerman noted it referred to Bear Creek Road, which does not appear on the borough street map. The corrected text describes roads in the June Creek subdivision damaged during the Bear Creek Fire response. The roll call was unanimous.

Zimmerman noted the pit run works out to $83.33 per yard placed. "It is incredibly expensive to build roads here," he said.