The Kenai Bluff Bank Stabilization Project took another step forward this week when the City of Kenai announced Friday that the project had officially been released for bid.

The announcement means that contractors interested in constructing the berm described by the project scope can start submitting their proposals for how they’d complete the work and how much it would cost to do so. The project bid site says the city will accept bids through the end of December.

City officials in September convened with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, and local state representatives for a ceremony in Kenai, where the city and the Corps signed a partnership agreement for the project. That agreement is what allowed the city to put the project out for bid, and for the project to be constructed.

Efforts to stabilize the bluff along the Kenai River in Old Town Kenai, which is eroding at a rate of 3 feet per year, have been decades in the making. The project put out to bid Wednesday will see the construction of a rock berm along the toe of the bluff from the mouth of the Kenai River to about Pacific Star Seafoods.

In all, the project is expected to cost about $41.6 million to complete. The City of Kenai secured $28 million through U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski as part of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, as well as $6.5 million from the State of Alaska. An additional $3.2 million has been secure through grants.

The city last year was notified that the proportion of project costs they would be expected to pay had gone down. Under the federal Water Resources Development Act of 2022, the city’s share decreased, from 35% to 10%. Construction on the project is expected to begin in 2024.

More information about the Kenai Bluff Bank Stabilization Project can be found on the city’s website at kenai.city.

Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.