Juneau staff seek approval to remove closed Calhoun Avenue pedestrian bridge

John Bohan, Juneau's chief capital projects engineer, asked the Assembly Public Works and Facilities Committee to approve removing the closed Calhoun Avenue pedestrian bridge downtown for about $150,000, in a memo for its Monday meeting. Staff said removal could be finished before the holidays and severe winter weather.

Records posted by Tuesday do not show what the committee did with the request. The committee next meets Nov. 30.

No replacement has been chosen. The memo says removal is required under any of the options staff laid out.

Leslie Daugherty, chief bridge engineer for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, wrote city Engineering and Public Works Director Denise Koch on Oct. 6 that the 1977 timber bridge had been in poor condition for more than 15 years. Repairs are "neither practical nor cost effective for a structure in this condition and age," she wrote. She recommended removing the bridge while officials decide what comes next.

The city put up barriers and signs Oct. 9, closing the bridge and stairs, according to its closure notice.

The Civilian Conservation Corps built the first bridge there in 1935 so children could safely cross Calhoun Avenue to reach Capital School. It clears the street by 13 feet 7 inches; the state recommends 17 feet 6 inches for pedestrian bridges. Large vehicles have struck it many times, most recently in the late 1990s, badly damaging one of its main timber girders, the memo said.

If nothing replaces the bridge, walkers would use existing sidewalks and crosswalks on Main Street and Calhoun Avenue. A stairway from 5th Street down to Calhoun would cost about $600,000 to more than $1 million. Adding a midblock crosswalk would add $50,000 to more than $150,000. A new bridge would cost more than $1.5 million and need study of the steep slope where its downhill end would land, on State of Alaska property.

Removal itself could cost more than estimated, depending on landfill testing and disposal charges. The memo names no funding source.

The Assembly approved $750,000 in September 2025 to weigh options and seed a replacement. The August 2025 request said the money would allow "construction to occur during the 2026 season." Alaska News reported Oct. 20 that none of it had been spent through July.