In Sitka, they're carrying your luggage by hand this summer

At Sitka's airport this summer, your checked bag might be moved by hand. With the baggage-handling system torn out for a major terminal renovation, Alaska Airlines and city workers are physically hauling luggage to and from planes to keep flights running — a scrappy, small-town workaround at the height of tourist season.

It's the most visible piece of a summer in which Sitka is tearing up much of itself at once.

The town is running several of its biggest infrastructure projects simultaneously, and residents and travelers will feel the overlap through at least October. Downtown, the largest street job is replacing aging water and sewer lines, adding storm drains, widening streets, and rebuilding sidewalks — the kind of work that snarls traffic and closes lanes for months. The airport terminal overhaul, years in the making and aimed at smoothing passenger flow and security, is targeted for substantial completion by the end of September. Add a waterfront seawalk extension, a senior-center sprinkler upgrade, and early groundwork for a future Coast Guard homeport, and much of the town is a work zone.

For a remote island community where every pipe and paving truck arrives by barge, doing the disruptive work in one concentrated season is often the practical call. The bags being carried by hand aren't a sign of dysfunction so much as of a town gutting and rebuilding its front door while still trying to keep it open.