First money committed to Alaska projects from new federal infrastructure bill

Hard money has now been committed to the first of several major Alaska infrastructure projects funded under new federal initiatives.

Alaska’s congressional delegation announced $925 million in Alaska port and coastal erosion projects funded by the new federal Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act.

in an interview with the Frontiersman, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said the projects, which include $250 million for Port of Nome expansion, have been in the planning stages for years and were given “program” approval earlier.

But now, dollars have been committed. “Up until now it’s just been paper,” Murkowski said.

The senator is a ranking (senior) member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and helped steer the projects through to final funding in the infrastructure bill.

Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan and Cong. Don Young also played key roles in approval of the projects done as part of federal U.S. Army Corps of Engineer and other federal programs administered through the federal Water Resources Development Act.

Sullivan is a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and Young, in the U.S. House, is a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Announcements by the Corps include $250 million for the Port of Nome, $364 million for construction of the Barrow (Utkiagvik) Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Project, $185 million for a flood diversion project in Lowell Creek near Seward, $28 million for a Kenai River Coastal Erosion Project, and $88 million for upgrades to the Moose Creek Dam near North Pole, east of Fairbanks.

The Nome port expansion has been in planning for years. It was initially selected for construction as a strategic Arctic port that would support medium-draft military and commercial vessels but funding for construction has not been available until now.

Utqiavik (Barrow) lost the ocean seawall that protects parts of the community’s downtown area in coastal storms in 2018. The lack of coastal protection threatens the integrity of the Old Barrow Landfill and critical community infrastructure, including the community’s only fresh water source.

The community has been spending millions of dollars every year to build temporary dirt berms to protect the city.

In September, 2020, the corps executed a design agreement with the North Slope Borough, securing funds for the planning, engineering and design phase of the project.

The plan would reduce the risk of storm damages to approximately five miles of coastline using rock revetment at the bluff area.

The Lowell Creek Flood Diversion System near Seward was built by the Corps in 1940 to divert flow from the creek and prevent flooding in Seward. The system was badly damaged by storms and also and suffers from major design faults.

In 2007, the Corps was directed to determine the feasibility of an alternative method of flood diversion. In May of 2021, the Corps’ chief of engineers completed a report on an alternative structure, but such a project would still take years to be built and protect the community.

Sen. Sullivan and Cong. Young worked through multiple congressional water infrastructure reauthorizations to ensure the corps would not transfer responsibility for the project to the City of Seward, which cannot afford the project.

In the 2020 WRDA reauthorization Sullivan and Young included language extending the Corps’ responsibility to maintain the integrity of the existing flood diversion system until an alternative structure or modifications that mitigate the severe flood risk are completed.

Funding for additional projects was also announced:

These include, in the Mat-Su region, $186,000 for a Talkeetna Flood Risk Management (SEC 205) feasibility study;

$3,335,000 for the planning engineering and design of the Elim Subsistence Harbor Project; $4,300,000 for rock erosion protection for the seaward side of the Ninilchik Harbor, $50,000 for the Pilot Point Storm Damage Reduction (Sec 103) feasibility study; $50,000 for the Pilot Point Navigation Project feasibility study $350,000 for the Hyder Small Boat Harbor feasibility study; $50,000 for the planning, engineering and design of the Petersburg Harbor, Dredging and Channeling Improvements; $90,000 for the Chena River Lakes/Moose Creek Dam, including a recreation vault restroom at the swimming pond, and $50,000 for dredging surveys in St. Paul, Alaska.

“This (projects) announcement – made possible by our bipartisan infrastructure bill – is worthy of celebration. These projects are real-life, boots-on-the-ground examples of the priorities we addressed through this historic law. I’m proud of our work on it and thrilled by the results it is already producing for our state,” Murkowski said. “Each of these infrastructure projects is timely and necessary and will make a difference in our state. They are critical to economic development, America’s role in an evolving Arctic, community safety, our response to natural hazards, and more. I thank the administration for joining Alaskans in recognizing the importance of these projects,” the senator said.