By Aaron Selbig
Turnagain Times Correspondent
“Having land with no access is like having money in the bank that you can’t get to,” laments Whittier City Manager Mark Earnest. “It doesn’t do you much good.”
Earnest was referring to a 600-acre parcel of land that the City of Whittier owns at Shotgun Cove, an area about 7 miles northeast of town along Passage Canal. The city has been interested in developing the land there for more than 25 years (the first official study of a possible project was done in 1982), and they have ample motivation—the land at Shotgun Cove is the only city-owned land in the Whittier area.
The problem is there is no road to Shotgun Cove—at least not yet. Although the realization of Whittier’s ultimate goal for the area, residential development at Shotgun Cove, is still years away, the first phase of the project is nearing completion.
Construction equipment and personnel employed by D&L Construction of Anchorage are hard at work on the first stretch of the road that will eventually reach about a mile-and-a-half east of Whittier to a popular local fishing area called First Salmon Run. Construction on the gravel-surfaced road began in 2000 and has been slow, Earnest admitted.
“For only a mile-and-a-half of road, it was quite a bit of construction,” he said.
Crews from D&L first had to get all of their equipment, including backhoes and frontloaders, through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel via railcar. They were then faced with the daunting tasks of straightening what was little more than a winding hiking trail, building a new bridge across Cove Creek and blasting out a trench for future utility lines. Also, recreational enhancements such as a parking area, a covered shelter, picnic tables, bathrooms and barbecue grills were built in the First Salmon Run area. Work on those enhancements has been completed, and the road is expected to be finished next month.
Taking the road further, from First Salmon Run to the city-owned land at Shotgun Cove, presents a whole new set of challenges for the citizens of Whittier. Some of the land between those two points, for instance, is owned by the Chugach Corporation, and a deal would have to be made to provide right-of-way access for the road. Also, permits need to be submitted and approved for any development in the Shotgun Cove area, and that will require an overall development plan. The city has already contracted another Anchorage company, USKH, to come up with that plan.
The price tag for the current phase of development, the gravel road to First Salmon Run combined with recreational enhancements, comes in at just over $3 million. The overall cost for the entire road to Shotgun Cove is not known at this time, although Earnest said that more than $10 million has already been secured to advance the project. Most of that money comes from the Federal Highway Administration and $4 million of it was specifically earmarked by Congressman Don Young (R-AK) in the 2005 federal highway bill, SAFETEA-LU.
Earnest and the city of Whittier have big dreams for Shotgun Cove. In addition to 400 acres or more of newly available residential land, he envisions someday moving the Whittier airport and possibly the ferry terminal out to Emerald Cove, a point about halfway between the city and Shotgun Cove. The US Forest Service, he said, has also talked about the possibility of building a complex out at Emerald Cove, although those discussions are in preliminary stages.
The main reason that folks in Whittier have for decades longed for a road to Shotgun Cove, however, is obvious—the city is cramped (the vast majority of residents live in either the Begich Tower or Whittier Manor) and has virtually no developable land within its limits.
“We need this to provide access for community growth and development,” said Earnest. “Most of the land in Whittier, all the way out to the tunnel, is owned by the Alaska Railroad. This road to Shotgun Cove is really the only land in Whittier that can be developed.”