Port Mackenzie repairs likely frozen out through the winter

WASILLA — Ice and daylight have likely delayed the completion of repairs at the Port MacKenzie dock until spring, according to the borough port supervisor.

Authorities aren’t sure yet whether they will attempt a series of make-or-break repairs this winter or wait until April 2016 to finish the job, according to borough port director Marc Van Dongen. Contractors have been working seven days per week, 10 hours per day to stabilize two cells behind a split wye, a triangular-shaped metal connector. The cells had been eroded by tidal currents pouring into and out of a split in the metal beam that appeared in spring this year. The assembly voted 5-1 Dec. 1 to borrow $2.5 million from the accumulated proceeds of land sales to cover a series of emergency repairs that arose after efforts to prevent the erosion and seal the crack ran out of funds.

The next step in the process will be to replace the damaged piles, but ice accumulation near the crack means the timing will have to be carefully managed. If piles on the outside are only half-removed, it could cause the gap in the wye to become greater. If they’re pulled without being replaced, it could mean exposing the dock to ice floes in Cook Inlet, and potentially more damage, Van Dongen said.

The stabilized cells mean officials are confident the port can last through the winter if needed, Van Dongen said.

“My preference would be to do it now, but I don’t want to risk getting halfway through it,” he said.

For the moment, crews will take a holiday break while managers evaluate weather conditions. If the weather proves uncooperative, the next move would be to put large pipes on the outside to fend off direct hits from floating ice. Workers will weld gusset plates above the top of the split in the beam to prevent additional splitting, and add some brackets and a fascia beam across the top of the wye to reinforce it, Van Dongen said. If these measures prove ineffective, officials will attempt to remove and replace the pilings at once in spite of the ice.

Workers have been digging ice out of the cells in order to repair them. Work must be also conducted at low tide, Van Dongen said.

“We only have about a two-hour window on each side of the low tides,” he said. “There’s some days we can’t even pile drive.”

Daylight around Monday’s winter solstice has also posed a problem, though not because workers can’t put up electric lights. Port work must be conducted with a beluga whale spotter watching the area to stop work in the event that any animals swim by. The spotter can only work during daylight, which is in short supply for the time being.

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.