Infrastructure

Big Lake's trail groomers are asking the state for a snowmachine

The volunteers who groom 40 miles of Big Lake trail want a new snowmachine. Last time they asked the state for $35,000 and got about a third.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Park Service awards $4.5 million contract to upgrade Glacier Bay's water system for firefighting

Glacier Bay's Bartlett Cove is getting bigger water lines so firefighters have enough pressure to fight a building fire. The job is worth about $4.5 million.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read

Anchorage will take public comment on Merrill Field's next 20 years Oct. 15

Merrill Field is planning its next 20 years, noise study included. The open house is Oct. 15, and it gathers input rather than setting priorities.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Kenai's council will award a bluff erosion contract the day after bids close

Kenai's council votes Sept. 30 on an erosion contract with blanks where the contractor and the price go. Bids do not close until the day before.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Coast Guard awards nearly $5 million to fix moisture damage in Cordova family housing

The Coast Guard is spending nearly $5 million to fix moisture damage in its Cordova duplexes. In fairness to the duplexes, they do live in Cordova.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Federal grant of $310,307 funds condition survey of Alaska's ferry fleet

Alaska is paying $310,000 to survey a ferry fleet whose flagship turns 62 this year. The bid to replace it came in $49 million over budget.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read

CBP awards Teya Diversified $23.3 million for border port repairs

Anchorage-based Teya Diversified won three CBP contracts worth $23.3 million for repairs at northern border ports, though records do not confirm whether any work occurs in Alaska.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read

Denali Borough adds $130,710 to fix roads damaged fighting a fire

Denali Borough is spending another $130,710 on June Creek roads chewed up during the Bear Creek Fire. One official wore waders to do his chores.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Alaska will spend up to $250,000 studying a ferry terminal in Hyder

Alaska wants to study a ferry terminal for a town of 41 people. The reason is Canada: Hyder's road runs south through B.C., and Prince Rupert may not last.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Palmer's plan to test whether its two main wells can produce more clears state review

Palmer's plan to study and possibly expand Wells 4 and 5, which supply 90 percent of the city's water, cleared state environmental review. The city has requested a $1.5 million state loan for it.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

The Alaska Court System awarded a $5.25 million contract to expand the Palmer Courthouse

The Legislature gave Palmer a fifth superior court judge this summer. The courthouse did not have room for the four judges it already had.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read

Wasilla commissioner asks if city should pause commercial development

A Wasilla commissioner floated halting commercial development over road funding. The chair noted commerce is what pays the city's share of road projects.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Wasilla's road plan expired on a population forecast 38 percent too high

The King Cove road is under construction, but the refuge corridor is still blocked

Bulldozers are on the first 2.8 miles of the King Cove road. The 10.5 miles through the refuge that would finish it are still blocked by a judge.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom Sep 16

Homer's tsunami evacuation route is being raised and widened

The road Homer would use to get people off the Spit ahead of a tsunami is being raised and widened, with $1.17 million obligated toward it so far.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

FAA awards Sitka $2 million for seaplane base land and final design

Sitka has federal money to buy land and finish designs for a new floatplane base. The $34 million to actually build it hasn't turned up yet.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read

Kodiak's health center is getting its own heating unit, off the hospital's

Kodiak's community health center shares aging air handling with the hospital next door. A $300,000 earmark buys it a rooftop unit of its own.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read

Fairbanks rewrites Chena riverfront rules; its own 2019 warning was never acted on

A 2019 letter warned that Chena River homes built to code could lose their ground before the mortgage is paid off. Fairbanks is rewriting the plan now.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Bethel would lease city lots to a fiber contractor without taking bids

Bethel would lease six city lots to a fiber contractor for $201,600 without bids, and nothing in the packet shows how the price was set.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Bethel council to authorize $5,200 culvert easements the city signed months ago

Bethel City Council takes up an ordinance Tuesday authorizing $5,200 in perpetual culvert easements along Ptarmigan Road that the city manager already signed in May and June, with a public hearing Oct. 13.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Denali's road work starts the day after the last bus of the season

Denali's last bus of the season ran Sept. 17. The very next morning, a $6.2 million contract to fix the roads those buses depend on began.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Flaggers still at Richardson Highway MP 210 as rock blasting wraps up

Crews blasted the last of an unstable rock outcrop off the Richardson Highway at Milepost 210, a year after the state flagged it. Traffic is still controlled.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Kenai refuge's environmental education building gets exterior repairs

The Kenai refuge's environmental education building is getting a $48,000 exterior fix-up this fall, from a small business based in Colorado.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Juneau's glacial flood bond vote would not reach voters until October 2027

Juneau can't vote on borrowing for permanent flood protection until October 2027, because the Army Corps won't have a cost estimate until then.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Juneau's flood protection should be everyone's bill, three members say

Alaska's Coast Guard distress radios have missed calls, and a fix is funded

The Coast Guard's own inspector general found outages in Alaska's distress radio network kept it from hearing some calls for help. A fix is funded.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min read

Ferry programs drew $27.73 million of Alaska's federal awards last week

Alaska took $69.2 million in federal awards last week, most of it for ferries, which already lean on Washington for nearly half their operating budget.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read

Railroad board to discuss $315 million Port MacKenzie extension Friday

The Alaska Railroad board will discuss a private consortium's Port MacKenzie proposal Friday. Any board action must occur in public session.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Saint Paul's harbor needs $90 million in work, and the city wants input

A 2021 study found Saint Paul's harbor needs over $90 million in work. Residents get two chances in October to shape what actually gets built.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Juneau invented cruise ship shore power. Doing it again costs $111.5 million

Plugging Juneau's cruise berths into the grid now runs $111.5 million, up from $24.9 million. The city has spare hydropower about a quarter of the time.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Bethel's dock wall is failing and the Port Commission hasn't taken it up

The Corps warned Bethel that its City Dock wall is shifting out of alignment. The Port Commission hasn't managed to discuss it in seven months.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Ninth Circuit lets King Cove road work continue while appeal runs into November

Construction continues on the first 2.8 miles of the King Cove to Cold Bay road after a federal appeals court denied a motion to halt the work.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Sitka's savings for future repairs has shrunk three years running

Sitka's yearly set-aside for future infrastructure repairs keeps shrinking: $4 million, then $3.2 million, and $3 million proposed for Tuesday.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Juneau's flood protection should be everyone's bill, three members say

Juneau's flood protection should be paid for by everyone, not just the people on the river, three Assembly members say. The bond vote slipped to 2027.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Juneau's flood fix could top $600 million, and the city has $11 million

Juneau needs more than $600 million to hold back the glacial flood. It has $11 million so far, and no plan for where its share comes from.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom Aug 31

Juneau committee sends an unrequested $6 million state grant to the downtown Seawalk

Juneau got $6 million from the state it never asked for and is putting it toward the downtown Seawalk, enough to build the first phase without borrowing.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom Aug 31

Nome weighs what to do with the boats that never leave its port yards

Boats and dredges that haven't floated in years are clogging the Port of Nome's yards, and the Port Commission is weighing higher fees or clearing them out.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Spur demolition begins for Nome's planned Arctic deep-draft port

Kiewit has begun removing Nome's port spur. Phase 1A extends the causeway, while separate dredging will create the 40-foot basin.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Seward Highway and Tudor Road interchange design study goes to Anchorage hearing Nov. 2

The state wants to rebuild the Seward Highway interchange at Tudor Road. It goes to a public hearing Nov. 2, with most of the funding still unbuilt.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Port of Alaska must ship contaminated soil out of state after storm drain dig

Crews at the Port of Alaska hit soil dirtier than testing predicted. It's now headed out of state, on a project with a grant deadline attached.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Juneau taxpayers at large would carry $4.7 million of the Mendenhall barrier bill as a quarter of the district objects

Juneau Assembly appropriated about $1 million in tribal and FEMA grants for additional phases of Mendenhall River flood barriers and 2024 flood response after an August 2024 glacial outburst flood damaged roughly 290 residences.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Juneau would shift $4.5 million from barrier construction to repairs and debt

Three outhouses east of Cordova, and a $1 million to $5 million estimate

The Forest Service wants three outhouses replaced near Cordova, plus picnic shelters and camping pads. It estimates the job at $1 million to $5 million.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read