The 5th and 6th avenue rebuild just hit $370 million — and even planners are flagging "scope creep"

The long-planned rebuild of Anchorage's 5th and 6th avenues now carries a $370 million price tag — and no clear source for the money. The state asked Anchorage's metropolitan transportation planners to revise the estimate, splitting the work into two projects: $315 million from L Street to Gambell Street, and $55 million from Gambell to the Airport Heights intersection. The scope also quietly grew, picking up new drainage work.

Where the $370 million comes from is unsettled. The state expects it to be covered by "additional funding above and beyond" what it has historically provided for Anchorage-area projects, the metropolitan planning coordinator, Aaron Jongenelen, wrote in an Aug. 6 memo. But planning staff themselves flagged a concern: the jump in cost and the added drainage scope may signal scope creep, and they questioned whether the project is affordable or even sufficiently defined yet.

The people most affected aren't in the room for those decisions. Downtown businesses along the corridor face reduced foot traffic, detours, noise, and parking and access problems during construction — disruptions that could hit customer access, deliveries and daily operations. Residents who use the streets face detours, lane closures and changed travel patterns. And the longer-term question is whether the project actually fixes the corridor's drainage and roadway problems.

The corridor has been a state work area for years. A 2020 construction map listed 5th and 6th Avenue resurfacing from Karluk Street to Airport Heights Drive; the new estimate covers a longer stretch and a much broader scope. For scale, four phases of the Fairview Bypass entered short-term programming at $220.5 million, as Alaska News has reported.

The plan has not yet been adopted. It was an action item at a planning committee meeting Thursday, though the meeting materials don't record what the committee recommended.