With limited funding, city road projects inch forward

Kayla Desroches/KMXT

The City of Kodiak recently awarded the bid on street improvement in the Aleutian Homes to Brechan Construction. It’s on the sixth stage of replacing the water and sewer in the area, and the project flow is reliant on funding.

Public Works director Mark Kozak says the needs and expenses far exceed available revenue, especially with less and less money trickling down from the state to local government.

“The state grant program that we were very successful at using is pretty much dwindled at state level, and what that has done is that means that we’re either borrowing funds or waiting until we have generated the revenue through rates.”

The next stage in the Aleutian Homes improvement will include replacing water and sewer and constructing new sidewalks and paving on Birch Avenue. It’s only this year they’ve been able to go forward with that. Kozak says the city started stage one in 2006, and completed the fifth phase in 2015.

“Birch St. is being funded by the utility rate payers. It takes a long time to accumulate the extra to do this kind of a project. It’s a $3 million job.”

Kozak says they’re replacing asbestos cement pipes that are almost 50 years old, which is roughly 20 years over their original expiration date.

That’s only one part of the city that’s due for an update.

Kozak says the water and sewer system downtown also needs work, but the city is giving priority to the Aleutian Homes due to multiple water main failures in the neighborhood. He says they have to prioritize which issues need a simple patch-up and which need a bigger overhaul.

Birch Ave. is scheduled for completion in the fall. After that’s done, Kozak says the city has two more stages left in the Aleutian Homes project.