Forest Service awards Ketchikan firm $3.19 million for Shelter Cove road work

The U.S. Forest Service has awarded Ketchikan Ready-Mix & Quarry, Inc. a $3,194,476 contract for infrastructure and aquatic organism passage (AOP) improvements on the Shelter Cove Road system. The award listing names the project "Shelter Cove Road System and AOP Improvements," with a period running from Sept. 1, 2026, through Oct. 31, 2028; it does not detail the scope of work or which road segments are involved. AOP refers to aquatic organism passage, a design standard for culverts and crossings that allows fish and other wildlife to move through. The company, based at 4418 Tongass Avenue, supplies ready-mix concrete, aggregate and road construction services in Ketchikan.

A long-standing proposal would extend the Ketchikan road system toward Shelter Cove on Carroll Inlet, tied to a 2008 statewide bond in which voters approved $10 million for a gravel road linking Harriet Hunt Lake and Shelter Cove Road. That extension would cross an old-growth reserve, raising conservation concerns. Available award records do not say whether the new contract is connected to that proposal.