Infrastructure
RSSAlaska News tracks infrastructure projects across Alaska, including transportation, utilities, water systems, and public facilities planning and development.
Ketchikan's long rebuild of the road toward Saxman inches ahead, with a waterside path and a tangle over land
Ketchikan's rebuild of the highway toward Saxman, adding a waterside path for walkers and bikers, drew more federal money as cost estimates keep swinging.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min readAI
Overnight drilling comes to Ketchikan's aging viaducts, part of a plan to repair them now and replace them later
Overnight drilling comes to Ketchikan's two 1950s viaducts, which carry 14,000-plus vehicles a day, as the state plans to repair them and replace them later.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
Three Hillside road districts are dipping into savings as maintenance costs outrun their funding
Three self-funded Hillside road districts are drawing $145,000 from their own savings for road maintenance, as costs outrun what they collect in taxes.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Nome buses roll as Steadman Street reopening goes unconfirmed
Nome school buses roll this morning down a street the state said would reopen Friday. The state's own weekly update does not say whether it actually did.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
The state wants $293M to rebuild 5th and 6th, but the funding isn't settled
The state wants Anchorage to program $293 million to rebuild 5th and 6th avenues downtown, but where the money comes from is unsettled.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
A $3.73 million contract will fix water intrusion at the Anchorage VA
A $3.73 million federal contract will fix water intrusion at the Anchorage VA Medical Center — a year of work by a Palmer firm, starting in September.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min readAI
Homer planning commission asked to name Spit erosion, public works campus and harbor floats as top capital projects
Homer's planning commission votes Wednesday on three capital projects to recommend to city council: Spit erosion protection, a new public works campus, and $2.2 million in harbor float repairs.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
CDC orders $1.4 million more Atlanta construction from an Anchorage firm
CDC awarded Anchorage firm MTNT Construction $1.4 million in federal construction orders over five days in August, but the agency did not disclose what the work is for or where it will happen.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min readAI
Alaska will build software to help inspect its bridges
Alaska's transportation department won a $126,917 federal grant to build computer vision tools that read bridge photos and flag defects for inspectors.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min readAI
Skagway ferry port closed indefinitely; state gives no repair timeline
Skagway's ferry dock is broken and the port is closed indefinitely. The state's entire public explanation fits in one undated website alert.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Hoonah and Ketchikan dock projects renew marine mammal permits without breaking ground
Two Southeast dock projects keep renewing federal permits to make noise underwater. The permits keep expiring. The water remains undisturbed.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Trucks keep hitting the Tudor Road overpass. The rebuild is years out
Federal Highway Administration added $912,130 to rebuild the Seward Highway and Tudor Road interchange, one of Anchorage's busiest, with construction now targeted for 2029 or 2030.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Homer's library wants a remodel, starting with a $75,000 study
Homer's library wants a remodel, a teen room, a bigger meeting room, a covered outdoor space and more storage, starting with a $75,000 study to price it out.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Feds move to fast-track a Juneau flood-control fix by cutting permitting and paperwork
Days after another Juneau outburst flood forced evacuations, federal agencies are fast-tracking a flood-control fix for the valley by cutting the red tape.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min readAI
A Navy ship tore a cleat off Kodiak's pier in a 100-mph storm
Replacing a mooring cleat a Navy ship tore off Kodiak's Pier II in a 100-mph storm will cost $72,500, and the city report doesn't say whether the Navy owes reimbursement.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Kodiak council to vote on $100,000 for aging wastewater plant electrical controls
Kodiak City Council votes Thursday on $100,000 to replace aging electrical controls at the wastewater plant before equipment failures disrupt operations.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Davidoff Street closes Saturday morning for Sitka manhole repair
Somebody blew their lid. I'm just kidding, but the road will be closed down temporarily.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Alaska will test whether Starlink can keep its road crews online in the bush
Alaska will test whether Starlink can keep its road crews and equipment connected in the bush, in a state already home to more than 60,000 of the dishes.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min readAI
A $1.8M grant to plan safer paths near Cantwell, with two catches
A $1.8 million grant will plan biking and walking paths on a dangerous Parks Highway stretch near Cantwell — but who runs it, and who'd plow them, is unclear.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min readAI
A faulting cable under the Loussac Library would cost the city a permanent easement
Anchorage Assembly will vote Tuesday on letting Chugach Electric replace a failing power cable under Loussac Library at no cost to the city.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
One rough winter tore up Hillside roads, and self-funded neighborhoods are footing the bill
One rough winter tore up a Hillside neighborhood's roads enough that its self-funded maintenance budget would nearly quintuple, and other areas want the same.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Merrill Field gets nearly $954,000, mostly federal, to plan its future
Merrill Field would get nearly $954,000, mostly federal, to plan how the airport grows and update its layout, under two measures the Assembly takes up Tuesday.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Seward's shipyards are tooling up as the town becomes a Coast Guard port again
Seward's shipyards got $2.3M in grants as the town becomes a Coast Guard port again, with a fast response cutter and later an Arctic icebreaker bound there.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min readAI
A Wasilla runway extension eyes nearby homeowners' land, if the money can be found
A Wasilla runway extension could put nearby homeowners' land in the city's sights — and it may not qualify for the federal money that usually pays for it.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Juneau hangar owners say the airport's own repaving flooded them, and it won't say if that's true
Juneau hangar owners say the airport's own regrading and repaving caused flooding now rotting their buildings, and it won't say if its work is to blame.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min readAI
Erosion is forcing Alaska to move the Noatak airport two miles west
The Noatak River has eroded to within about 160 feet of the village's airport — its only lifeline — so Alaska is moving the whole airport two miles west.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Anchorage and Fairbanks airports finish swapping PFAS foam out of crash trucks
Anchorage and Fairbanks airports replaced PFAS firefighting foam in their crash trucks with fluorine-free alternatives, cutting PFAS levels up to 99.999% in the tanks.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Parks Highway drops to one lane at Nenana's Tanana River Bridge Aug. 18
Are you driving down that specific road, look at the story… Are you not driving down that specific road, probably not about you
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Deadhorse airport upgrade will fill nearly 79 acres of wetlands with no mitigation
A Deadhorse Airport upgrade at the North Slope's oil-field gateway will fill nearly 79 acres of wetlands — with no mitigation planned, the state says, for lack of any local program to do it through.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Anchorage pushes for an emergency boat launch on Turnagain Arm after a drowning
After a drowning where rescuers had no way to launch a boat, Anchorage is pushing for federal money to build an emergency water-access point on Turnagain Arm.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago4 min readAI
Juneau moves to repair Mendenhall riverbank and protect flood-hit homes
Juneau moves to repair 1,300 feet of Mendenhall riverbank to protect flood-hit homes, one of several recovery measures on the agenda after the 2024 flood.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
A Kodiak homeowner takes his flooded yard to the borough board
A Kodiak homeowner is fed up with a too-small, often-clogged borough pipe flooding his yard, and he's taking his complaint to the service-area board Tuesday.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Kodiak will homeport the Coast Guard's first Arctic Security Cutters
Kodiak will homeport the Coast Guard's first two Arctic Security Cutters, part of a multibillion-dollar Arctic buildup, with a third headed to Seward.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
King Cove road materials arrive on scene as local workers hit another milestone in the development of a contested project
A barge of equipment for the long-disputed King Cove-Cold Bay Road has reached King Cove, though the fight over the route through Izembek refuge continues.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Potter Drive designs test Anchorage guidance on in-street bike lanes
Anchorage planners will review four design options for Potter Drive that would add its first sidewalks and bike lanes, though two conflict with a city plan recommending a separated bikeway.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
A Larsen Bay spillway is 'nearing failure' and unfunded in Kodiak's list
A spillway supplying Larsen Bay's water and power is "nearing failure," but the $1.2 million fix isn't funded and ranks sixth, in Kodiak's out-year pile.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
The state is drilling test holes for a Seward Highway fix, as a bigger $1.5 billion plan draws fire
The state is rebidding a routine Seward Highway drilling job, but the real fight is a $1.5 billion rebuild up the road that critics call oversized.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
The 5th and 6th avenue rebuild just hit $370 million — and even planners are flagging "scope creep"
Anchorage's 5th and 6th avenue rebuild just hit $370 million with no clear way to pay for it — and even the city's planners are flagging scope creep.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Hughes $25 billion pitch: connect Alaska's railroad to Canada, and Nome to the Interior
Candidate Shelley Hughes wants to link Alaska's railroad to Canada and reach Nome — a roughly $25 billion pitch with no identified funding source.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
In Talkeetna, a debate over whether weather or a bridge is eroding the riverbank
Weather, or a rebuilt railroad bridge? As Talkeetna's bank erodes, one river-watcher says the bridge choked the river — and that's the fixable cause.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
