Mock-up illustration of in-development Kahtnu Area Transit Bus (Image courtesy Kenaitze Indian Tribe)

Mock-up illustration of in-development Kahtnu Area Transit Bus (Image courtesy Kenaitze Indian Tribe)

Kenaitze purchase Kenai’s former Kendall Ford building for transportation hub

Hetl Qenq’a will also serve as a hub for the upcoming Kahtnu Area Transit, a fixed route public bus service

The former Kendall Ford location in Kenai will be the transportation center for the Kenaitze Indian Tribe as they further expand transportation services, they announced earlier this month.

According to a media release published by the tribe on Feb. 9, they purchased the facility to serve as a “transportation hub.” It will be called Hetl Qenq’a, Dena’ina for “Sled House.”

The building, located on the Kenai Spur Highway, has more than 20,000 square feet of floor space, and will support a transportation fleet of 65 vehicles. The space will be used for cleaning and maintaining the tribe’s vehicles and for office and conference space for transportation staff.

“Access to reliable transportation is a major barrier for many people in our community,” Tribal Council Chair Bernadine Atchison says in the release. “The Tribe continues to work to fill in the gaps to meet the need. We’re excited to have a facility to house our Transportation program, and to help our Tribe and our community thrive.”

Hetl Qenq’a will also serve as a hub for the upcoming Kahtnu Area Transit, a fixed route public bus service, which the release says “the tribe is close to launching.”

Kahtnu Area Transit was once forecast to be launched at the start of 2023, and at a public meeting held in November, the tribe said that plans were coming together. There, consulting firm R&M Consultants presented a proposed route for the service that included 21 stops between Kenai and Soldotna. The tribe said then that they were proceeding through key approvals with the Federal Transit Authority for elements like the design of the buses.

For more information, visit kenaitze.org or find “Kenaitze Indian Tribe” on Facebook.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

Seward City Clerk Kris Peck, right, administers an oath of office to Seward City Council newcomer Casie Warner during a council meeting in Seward, Alaska, on Oct. 28, 2024. (Screenshot courtesy City of Seward)
Seward City Council swears in winners of October municipal election

They were sworn in two weeks after the council certified its election results

Duane Bannock speaks to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Borough’s tourism industry working group takes shape

The group will explore the effects of a potential bed tax

Assembly Member Peter Ribbens speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Ribbens, Cooper named new heads of borough assembly

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly reorganized during their Oct. 22 meeting

A special weather statement for the western Kenai Peninsula was issued Monday by the National Weather Service. The area will see strong gusty winds and rain late tonight and through Tuesday morning. A winter storm warning remains in effect from 3 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday for areas of the eastern peninsula. (Image via weather.gov)
Windy weather heads for western Kenai Peninsula

The western Kenai Peninsula will experience some windy and wet conditions Tuesday and Wednesday.

Lisa Gabriel, left, watches as beach seine nets are pulled from the waters of Cook Inlet at a test site for the gear near Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Board of Fish to consider set beach seines for east side setnet fishery

Seines were tested on local beaches this summer in effort helmed by Lisa and Brian Gabriel

Sockeye salmon are gathered together at a test site for selective harvest setnet gear in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Board of Fish to consider expansion of commercial dipnetting fishery

Discussion of expanded time, days and season of commercial dipnet fishery scheduled for March

The Alaska Board of Fisheries hears public testimony at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska, on Feb. 18, 1999. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion file)
Board of Fisheries again declines to hold Upper Cook Inlet meeting on Kenai Peninsula

The State Board of Fisheries this week rejected calls from the Kenai… Continue reading

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski takes a selfie with Rose Burke at the Kenai Municipal Airport in Kenai, Alaska, on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. Burke won the 2024 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree essay contest and will travel to Washington, D.C., in December to light the tree. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Connections student to light U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree

Rose Burke, 9, won the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree essay contest and will travel to Washington D.C.

Most Read