(ANCHORAGE, Alaska) – The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities is moving forward with field investigations this month on the Highway Safety Project: Seward Highway Rock Fall Mitigation. Work includes analyses of locations between mileposts (MP) 104 and 114 with a history of rock fall.

The analyses will require contractors to use bucket trucks and ladders, and suspend personnel from the rock face in order to conduct geotechnical investigations. In order to safely complete the field work, crews will be closing segments of the northbound lane, Monday through Thursday, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. starting on June 17 through June 27. There will be no closures on any Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. The department is asking the public for patience, and urges drivers to use caution, plan for extra travel time, and pay attention to flaggers when traveling through the area.

The field survey will help the design team determine a combination of solutions to reduce rock fall hazards, including scaling (pre-emptively removing rock that is likely to fall), draped mesh, rock bolts, and development of ditches.

Construction is anticipated in summer 2020 and is estimated to cost between $10 and $20 million.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities oversees 237 airports, 9 ferries serving 35 communities along 3,500 marine miles, over 5,600 miles of highway and 839 public facilities throughout the state of Alaska. The mission of the department is to “Keep Alaska Moving through service and infrastructure.”

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