Efforts to make part of the Kenai Spur Highway safer kicked off Tuesday [9/10] with a groundbreaking on the highway shoulder. State and local officials say the work will create safer traffic patterns and reduce moose collisions.
A group of about ten people stand on the shoulder of the Kenai Spur Highway – their neon vests and hard hats are bright against an otherwise gloomy autumn day. Cars rush by on the busy stretch of two-lane highway, which, after Tuesday, is on track to get bigger and brighter.
“It’ll go to five lanes, with a middle turn lane,” said Ryan Anderson, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. “And then the big thing … continuous lighting because of the moose along this stretch. So we'll add continuous lighting throughout this corridor, which is a huge safety improvement.”
The groundbreaking is largely ceremonial – as are the gold shovels used to scoop at a pre-placed pile of dirt. But the event kicks off long-sought work on the second phase of a project that started more than a decade ago, in 2011.
At issue are 5.7 miles of the Kenai Spur Highway between Kenai and Soldotna. The stretch of road is one of only two ways to get between the two communities and has a higher car crash rate than the statewide average. It also has the second-highest rate of moose collisions in the state.
Kenai Peninsula Borough Peter Micciche calls the highway the “spine of the Kenai.” For years he’s pushed for the project to get done, including when he was still representing the central peninsula in the Alaska Legislature.
“It's going to pay off,” he said. “It's going to save lives. It's going to reduce accidents significantly, not only the lighting, but the five-lane design, where you're not turning out of the actual travel lane, and we've experienced that in the other half of the Spur Highway.”
The state finished expanding and lighting the other side of the Spur in 2020, which covered work from Swires Road, by Mountain View Elementary, to Eagle Rock Drive. Phase 2 picks up at Eagle Rock and goes to about Sports Lake Road near Soldotna.
Sean Holland directs the department’s central region. He says construction is expected to take three years, starting with relocation of utility lines along the highway. A state contractor prepped the project footprint in 2020, which included clearing the area of trees and brush. He says drivers should expect travel impacts while work is underway.
“It's going to be the exact same type of project as the first phase, you know,” Holland said. “So if you were around for that, probably the same type of disruptions.”
Anderson says the project has been a long time coming.
“It's been going on for a while,” he said. “We just – we need to wrap these things up. They're good projects. They've been on the books for a reason, and you know, we want to see the public get the benefit out of them.”
The state awarded a roughly $30 million contract to Quality Asphalt Paving for the work. Of that amount, 90% is from the federal government through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which passed in 2021. The state is putting up the other 10%.
Department spokesperson Shannon McCarthy said part of the reason it’s taken multiple years to start the second phase is because of a provision in the federal legislation that requires associated construction materials to be manufactured in the United States. QAP is based in Anchorage and will use materials from Alaska.
