Infrastructure
RSSInfrastructure in Alaska is the physical systems and public facilities that communities build and maintain. It includes transportation, utilities, and public works projects managed by state, municipal, and federal agencies. These efforts cover roads, water systems, and power grids.
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Week of Aug 10
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
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.News3mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
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 3mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
More from Infrastructure
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago4 min read
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Week of Aug 3
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
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 3mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Coming up
Haines Borough Ports and Harbors Advisory Committee Meeting
Assembly Chambers, 315 Haines Highway, Haines, AK, and Zoom (Meeting ID 833 2336 7111, passcode 744008)
Meeting
Alaska Energy Authority Tax-Exempt Bonds Public Hearing
Hearing
Valdez City Council Work Session: High School Renovation Project
Meeting
Haines Borough Assembly Regular Meeting
Meeting
Loring Service Area Board Meeting
Meeting
About Infrastructure
Infrastructure in Alaska takes in the physical systems that communities build and maintain, including roads and bridges, water and sewer lines, power grids, ports, harbors, docks and airports. State, municipal and federal agencies manage this work alongside utilities and tribal organizations.
Much of it is paid for with federal grants, state money and local loans, from airport grants to rail and grid awards. Recurring questions involve aging structures such as failing weirs, cracked bridges and worn water pipes, seismic retrofits, and the cost of replacing village fuel tanks and buildings in remote places where freight is expensive.
Infrastructure connects closely to energy, utility rates and economic development. Decisions about a single dock, pipe or road often fall to a city council or borough assembly, which weighs grants, loans and design options before work begins.
More from Infrastructure
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
As Anchorage cements its role as a global cargo hub, the growth is colliding with its neighbors
Anchorage's cargo boom brings nighttime jet noise — and a new study warns the fixes might just shift it from one neighborhood to another, not end it.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
Kenai council approves $775,000 for Sixth Street water, sewer, road work
Kenai City Council approved 775000 dollars for Sixth Street infrastructure. The project will serve new senior housing but stop short of future development sites.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Anchorage seeks 50 acres of JBER land for a waste-to-energy plant
Anchorage is asking Congress for about 50 acres of JBER land next to the landfill for a waste-to-energy plant, with the request riding in this year's defense bill.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Coast Guard asks Homer to accept transfer of cutter support building
Homer City Council votes Aug. 24 on accepting ownership of a Coast Guard cutter support building. • The ordinance does not specify maintenance costs or operational details the city would assume. • Residents can testify at the 6 p.m. public hearing.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
New law ties Anchorage's federal housing grant to how fast it builds
Anchorage's biggest federal housing grant will now rise or fall with how fast the city builds, raising the question of whether it'll be punished for constraints it can't control.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A landslide cut rail service to Denali after record Talkeetna rain
A landslide from record July rain cut off Alaska Railroad service to Denali north of Talkeetna, in a corridor already under a flood-and-erosion emergency.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago1 min read
A Hillside road district taps its own savings to fix its own roads
A self-funded Hillside road district would draw $150,000 from its own reserve to fix its roads rather than raise assessments, one of two doing so this summer.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Kaktovik residents press North Slope Borough on cracked homes
Kaktovik and Nuiqsut residents told the North Slope Borough Assembly that homes are cracking and settling, and asked for repairs and new programs to address the damage.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago4 min read
The road to Bear Valley Elementary would narrow, and won't fix the jam
The road to Bear Valley Elementary already backs up at pickup, so the plan is to make it narrower — which, the project admits, won't fix the jam.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Alaska's freight system was built to ship oil out. Now it's about getting packages in.
Alaska's freight network is shifting from moving oil out to bringing online-shopping deliveries in, as pipeline throughput slides and e-commerce surges through Anchorage.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A decade after a plan promised lower energy costs, Bering Strait villages are still studying the problem
A decade after a regional plan promised lower energy costs, Bering Strait villages are still studying the problem — as Kawerak seeks contractors to assess the diesel infrastructure keeping 20 communities running.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
A protected Potter Marsh hillside faces access questions at an Aug. 10 hearing
A 303-acre hillside feeding Potter Marsh is permanently protected, so the debate now is over access — where trails and parking go, and which neighborhood streets take the traffic. A 20-year plan gets a hearing Aug. 10.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Parks Highway delays ease on one stretch, but not the next
Parks Highway traffic control is gone between MP 322 and 325 after a haul-truck crossing opened, but the next stretch south still has speed limits and diversions until 2028.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Mat-Su commission backs the $9 million road route over the $30 million one
Mat-Su's planning commission backed a $9 million southern road route over a northern one pegged at up to $31 million, overruling a staff recommendation. The assembly decides next.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
The jet bridges at the Anchorage airport are wearing out
Those clunky old jet bridges at the Anchorage airport are wearing out, and the state is replacing them gate by gate through 2028. Two more are up for bid now.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min readFrom 
Week of Jul 27
Kenai weighs federal housing funds for Sixth Street water and sewer work
Kenai weighs using federal housing grant money to help fund water, sewer and street work on Sixth Street, with a public hearing and vote Wednesday.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Neighbors got the tower dropped from a south Anchorage substation rebuild
After a two-year fight, neighbors got Chugach to drop a 65-foot tower from a south Anchorage substation rebuild. A smaller fence-and-noise dispute is left.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 3mo ago1 min read
North Slope phone co-op moves to keep its Deadhorse airport site
The North Slope's phone co-op wants five more years for its tower and shop on Deadhorse Airport land, a no-bid extension of an existing $14,250-a-year lease.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Second Eagle River road contract in weeks draws just one bid
An Eagle River brush-disposal contract worth up to $1.16 million drew one bidder, the second sole-bid road contract in the same service area in weeks. The Assembly votes Tuesday.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Wasilla is borrowing $6 million to expand its sewage plant
Wasilla is expanding its sewage treatment plant with new equipment, funded largely by a $6 million state loan that ratepayers will help repay over time.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Juneau's flood barriers came from an Illinois stockpile
The walls guarding 1,900 Juneau homes from a glacial flood came from an Illinois stockpile. Locals paid for round one; the feds covered all $35 million of round two.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
