Fish and Game names low bidder for $3.58 million Susitna Landing boat launch rebuild

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game plans a $3.58 million rebuild of Susitna Landing, its boat launch and campground in Willow, and lists the site closed for construction through Nov. 15 and again starting April 12, 2027.

Susitna Landing sits near Mile 82 of the Parks Highway, where the Kashwitna River meets the Susitna, and is a common jumping-off point for salmon and trout anglers and boaters headed onto the Susitna.

Under the bid documents, the launch and parking must be usable and the pay station working again by Nov. 15. From Nov. 16 to April 14, 2027, the contractor can't restrict use by winter recreational users unless the project engineer approves. The facility must reopen to the public by July 1, 2027, though partial closures are allowed after that, and all work is due by Nov. 15, 2027.

Under the plans, the old concrete-block launch would be replaced with two concrete lanes, each about 17 feet wide, with an 82-foot aluminum floating dock between them. Crews would dig out about 1,330 cubic yards of riverbed, armor 375 feet of shoreline with rock and rebuild up to 185 feet of eroded bank upstream with about 40 spruce rootwads.

The campground would get three vault toilets, a showerhouse and a water system that must remove arsenic, which the current system does not treat.

Silt is a yearly problem at the ramp. Fish and Game pays every year to dredge it out. Its May request for quotes sought removal of about 300 cubic yards and said fall flooding and high water leave silt that keeps boaters from launching and landing safely.

The river there supports Chinook, coho, sockeye and pink salmon, according to the department's habitat permit. The launch site would be walled off with a cofferdam and pumped dry for several weeks while department staff remove fish.

Nodak Electric & Construction Inc. was the apparent low bidder July 22, at about $3.58 million, ahead of Orion Construction Inc. at about $4.24 million and Bristol Infrastructure Design Services LLC at about $4.82 million. As of Oct. 19, the state's public notice listed nothing after the notice of intent to award, and no signed contract had been posted.