By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times
Many road paving projects have been completed or are nearing completion.
The Seward Highway from milepost 104 to 115 at Indian wrapped up at the end of September, ending a nearly two month project.
At the end of September, Arlberg Road was partially paved from the Alyeska Daylodge parking lot to nearly three quarters of the way to the Hotel Alyeska. It was paid for out of the Girdwood Board of Supervisors’ roads maintenance budget at a cost of $177,000.
Next up for paving are Ruane and Crow Creek Roads in Girdwood. The paving of Crow Creek Road is slated to be completed at the end of October, with pavement being laid just beyond California Creek .68 miles from the turnoff at Alyeska Highway. The project began April 29 with brush clearing, and was scheduled for completion by Oct. 1, but a run in with some unexpected bedrock at California Creek delayed construction of a new bridge being built over the creek. The federally earmarked project will cost $2.4 million
The paving of Ruane Road is also expected to be completed by the end of the month; it is the access road to the Girdwood Transfer Station.
Paving of the 11-mile section of the Seward Highway began in mid-August. The $5.4 million project was completed at the end of September with striping of the road.
The project came in $300,000 under budget and was completed on time, said Allan Drake, Construction Project Manager for the State Dept. of Transportation. Granite Construction, DBA of Wilder Construction, was contracted for the job.
“The main reason for the road being paved was because it had multiple pot holes,” said Drake. “Nothing has been done since it was built in the mid-80’s.”
Drake said three inches of new asphalt pavement was applied, which should last for about ten years.
There are no paving projects planned next year along Turnagain Arm, which will come as relief to many local drivers, who waited in long lines of traffic during the past month-and- half during the paving process.
Project funding for the Seward Highway project came from the Federal Highway Safety Improvement funds.