Illinois Street Construction
2012 Construction Season Southbound Closure

The Alaska Department of Transportation, in partnership with HC Contractors, Inc, is working to improve Illinois Street for all travelers.

Planned work will include new pedestrian sidewalks and bike paths, moving utility lines underground, and a wider, straighter road for improved traffic flow and safety. Construction work will begin on the north side of the Chena River and continue north in stages. This work is part of a two-year project that will ultimately connect Illinois Street to the Barnette Street Bridge and replace the Noyes Slough Bridge. We will do our best to keep you informed as work continues and appreciate your patience and cooperation during construction.

• On Tuesday, April 16, Slater Street, off of Illinois Street was closed at the Slater/Erceg intersection. This closure will last for up to three days.
• Beginning Friday, April 20, the intersection of Terminal & Driveway will be closed. Access to the Big I will be thru Terminal Street. This closure is estimated to last through the middle of June.
• Beginning Monday, April 23, Illinois Street, from 1st Avenue to Phillips Field Road, will be CLOSED to southbound traffic for the duration of the 2012 construction season. Please follow construction signs for DETOUR routes.
• Throughout construction, expect intermittent LANE RESTRICTIONS, flagging operations, DETOUR routes, CLOSURES and DELAYS.

PDF version of the above map

HC Contractors, Inc. of North Pole was awarded the Illinois Street Reconstruction Project with a low bid of $21,965,862 on January 25, 2012. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) engineers estimate for the project was $22,687,027.

Beginning March 2012, HC Contractors will begin hanging conduit under the new Barnette Street Bridge from the ice below. There is also a separate preconstruction utility contract ongoing, which will relocate overhead utilities off the project a block or two so construction can go forward.

In mid-April, HC Contractors will start installation work on Storm Treatment Units (STUs) and their outfalls at the Chena River, Noyes Slough (both sides) and at the intersection of Erceg and Slater, followed by sewer work just north of the Big "I" on Terminal Street. This work must be completed before breakup to take advantage of the low water table. Some of this work will be visible from the Daily News Miner Arctic Cam.

Work will then move north through the project in stages, beginning at the new Barnette Street Bridge and ending at College Road. Staging the phases of work will minimize traffic flow impacts to the immediate area at each construction point. Some work will be off to the side of traffic; expect delays and please drive with caution in this area.

This work includes storm drain system (manholes, curb inlets and pipe) and waterline installation. These will be followed closely by installation of the utility duct bank system (vaults and concrete encased duct bank).

There is also some utility work and reconstruction on Barnette from 2nd Ave. to the new Barnette Bridge that will be accomplished during the summer.

As the utility work is completed, the contractor will finish any additional excavation, haul and place borrow and crushed aggregate for the new road, and complete the curb & gutter.

The contract requires the contractor to pave & stripe (perhaps temporary) before winter and to have functional lighting after August 10.

The present plan is to open the Barnette Bridge in 2013 upon completion of final median construction, paving, striping, lighting and signal work.

Summer of 2013 work also involves removal and reconstruction of the Noyes Slough Bridge and the roadway north of GVEA.