Jason Baxley is the project engineer for the Kachemak Drive pavement preservation project. He explained why the project is starting with clearing work.
“We're looking at here, in the next, probably next week, starting some clearing. And we have to do all the clearing before we hit the bird window of May 1,” Baxley said.
The Federal Highway Administration is funding the project, which came in at $3,734,539.80. Baxley said deep peat and poor soil conditions have long damaged the road.
“There's a lot of peat, a lot of bad soils that go deep. And you know, when you have a lot of traffic and weight on it and ground moving and thawing and stuff like that. It really tends to deteriorate the asphalt,” Baxley said.
The project will also improve drainage along the corridor to keep water from pooling near the road. Homer city leaders say drainage has been a recurring problem there. Councilmember Shelly Erickson spoke about the road's history at a city council meeting earlier this month.
“So what we're getting is they're going to replace some of the culverts, because the problem last time was that they paved it and then they went back and they dug the holes out and put culverts in and then repaved it. So we've had quite a roller coaster on Kachemak Drive for quite a number of years,” Erickson said.
The project is broken into three phases and is expected to finish by Aug. 15. Drivers can expect flaggers on the road from 8 am through the afternoon once construction begins.
Up-to-date road conditions and construction-related delays can be found at 511.Alaska.gov.
