Construction work on about 16 miles of the Chiniak Highway won’t start next summer as initially planned. The state Department of Transportation now says the project will begin in 2026, lasting through 2029.
Work will eventually be spread out over the course of four stages on milepost 15 to 31 of the highway, which starts at the end of the paved section of road, to improve and extend its life amidst coastal erosion and other threats.
Jim Brown, the project manager for the Department of Transportation’s Chiniak Highway Rehabilitation project, said the new project schedule is due to some changes in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan, or STIP.
“And with some of the recent things with the STIP, I think some of the projects might have gotten moved," Brown stated. "I think that’s probably why some got moved from 2025 to 2026, is because we were moving things around, juggling the STIP program.”
The STIP includes hundreds of projects in Alaska, and the corresponding funding, that will be worked on over the course of the next four years.
Earlier this year in February, the island’s Chiniak Highway was initially left off the plan when the state’s first submission was rejected by federal officials.
State Rep. Louise Stutes of Kodiak said she spoke with residents that were concerned about the highway due to potholes and deteriorating conditions.
“And I want to say, those [projects] are on the State STIP. They [originally] were not and I called the Commissioner [of DOT] and said ‘this road is not going to last.’ And it is on the STIP, it will be done in stages," Stutes explained.
Alaska’s project list was approved in late March with the Chiniak Highway’s rehabilitation project included. This allows the road project to receive the vast majority of the $61 million in funding it needs through grants called Surface Transportation Block Grants.
The first stage of work, which is also the most expensive at $18.6 million, will cover roughly two miles of the Chiniak Highway, from milepost 21.3 to 23.7 past the American River Bridge, along with milepost 28.1 to 28.4.
DOT's proposed work includes: Paving • Embankment Rehabilitation • Roadway Realignments (easing or flattening grades and curves) • Drainage and Culvert Improvements • Rockfall Mitigation • Guardrail Replacement • Retaining Wall Structures • Utility Relocations • Signing and Striping.
Before the design phase is completed and construction work begins, Brown with DOT said the agency plans to host an open house in Kodiak later this year.
