Getting there: Sterling Highway resurfacing close to wrapping up
Anyone living south of Soldotna is well aware of the federally-funded Sterling Highway resurfacing project that's been under way since August, and after weeks of reduced speed zones and lane restrictions, many want to know when it will end for the season.
"It could go until November, but we're hoping to have it completed by the end of October," said Gary Walklin, project engineer with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
The $5.6 million project -- being done by Alaska Road Builders Inc. -- involves 16.7 miles of the Sterling Highway from the intersection with Kalifornsky Beach Road, south to South Cohoe Loop. The project includes pre-leveling to take out potholes and dips, paving, new striping, erecting new signs and putting in new guardrail.
Roughly 95 percent of the highway in the project area needed pre-leveling, and work was done in 5-mile sections, taking two to three days per lane. The highway was reduced to one lane for this work, with a pilot car guiding traffic through the construction area.
"All the pre-leveling is finished, and went well. Traffic impact was fairly minimal for a paving project," Walklin said.
The guardrail work -- being done by McKinley Fence Co. -- is also nearing completion. All of the existing guardrail was replaced and extended in a few sections.
"We put new bridge rails in on the bridge over the Kasilof River when the existing rail was pretty beat up," he said. "We also added about 500 feet of rail to the upstream side of the highway at Crooked Creek, where the bank is steep and high and there's water down low."
Walklin said the remainder of the work for this season revolves around erecting the hundreds of signs that will have to be put in along the highway.
"Speed limits, mile posts, recreation, side streets, approaches, stop signs -- there's lot of them that will have to go in," he said.
Walklin said they have poured many of the foundations for these signs, and now just have to come back and assemble and install them.
"Most are set in a sleeve in 40 inches of concrete with a rebar foundation," he said. "The larger ones also have a coupling so they can break off if struck, rather than going through the vehicle. The smaller ones will just bend over."
After the winter, the project will resume with primarily top-layer paving left to complete.
"The top-layer paving -- two more inches of asphalt across the top of what been put down during pre-leveling -- will start as soon as the load restrictions are lifted, typically around the third week of May," he said.
Walklin said this will give the road building crew a little more than month to finish the project to be within the scheduled completion date of June 30, 2010.
"We have a few other projects that will begin next year, too," Walklin said.
These include a paving project for Johnson Lake, Crooked Creek and Tustumena Roads area. A bike path will be put in along Kalifornsky Beach Road, from Bridge Access Road south to Cannery Road. And a new 16-foot diameter culvert will be installed at Coal Creek -- Mile 4 of Kalifornsky Beach Road -- to promote better fish passage. Currently there is a smaller, hanging culvert in place beneath the roadway.
While any of these projects are on-going, weekly updates can be found about them via the Internet at www.alaskanavigator.org.
Joseph Robertia can be reached at joseph.robertia@peninsulaclarion.com.