Phase 1 Federal Project No. 0221(018) | Phase 2 Federal Project No. CFHWY00253 | Phase 2 Federal Project No. 0221(019)
Kenai Spur Highway Rehabilitation Project:
Sports Lake Road to Swires Road
Update Wednesday, May 13, 2026
The pathway will be obstructed from 7am to 7pm Monday-Saturday and flaggers will guide pedestrians.
The contractor will take Saturday, Sunday and Memorial Holiday off and be off the road at 12PM Friday but will continue working off the pathway until 4pm Friday.
Starting May 18th, there will be multiple utility crews working in all parts of the project. HEA will have two-line crews and a third boring crew, GCI will have one crew, Enstar will have two crews, ACS will have three, and QAP will begin potholing for all utilities and have a vac truck on the project extensively. A total of 10 different operations to the end of the Holiday weekend.
Electrical crews continue work on pulling long spans of new power lines between poles from Eagle Rock to Silver Salmon. Then work from Silver Salmon to Sports Lake from the pathway. Power poles also need to be installed from Sports Lake to Lancashire on the east side of the Kenai Spur. One Lane closures are needed to pull wire across Kenai Spur and 10 minute delays are expected to safely perform this work.
Enstar is boring new lines and have reached Churchill. They will continue north to Ross St and then on a separate project will install new Enstar lines into Kenai at Main St. Enstar also has line adjustments to lower due to grade changes in various locations on this project.
ACS will have a boring crew and line crew install new conduit for fiber and copper beginning at Lancashire and working north this work is extensive and will go to the end of August.
Please drive safe and enjoy the road improvements.
Update April 29, 2026
Electrical crews will continue framing and then standing new power poles along the pathway from Sports Lake Road to Eagle Rock Drive. The pathway will be obstructed from 7am to 7pm and flaggers will guide pedestrians. A second drilling/boring crew will arrive to install ACS and Enstar conduit underneath the Kenai Spur Highway and across some driveways and Side Streets, one lane closures will be needed along the Kenai Spur for boring equipment. Pavement will not be cut open as the operations will be drilled underneath. The contractor will also be working off the shoulder to build out staging areas to store gas and phone line pipe and equipment.
Please drive safe and enjoy the road improvements.
Update March 27, 2026
AKDOT and contractor QAP UPDATE for 2026 Spring Start-up.
The week of March 30th, Surveyors will begin marking clearing limits and ROW staking.
Clearing crews will begin clearing approximately 4 acres once they are finished clearing on the Sterling Highway nearby.
Starting April 27th all Utilities will begin work in the ROW; ACS, GCI, HEA and Enstar.
HEA's contractor will work 8-10 weeks about July 4th, starting from Eagle Rock and working south to Sports Lake. GCI will fall behind and hang their lines on HEA's poles. They will work off the pathway Mon-Friday 12 hours a day with Flaggers at all times allowing pedestrians through.
ACS's contractor will begin at Sports Lake and work their way North to Eagle Rock and also continue on another project to Main Street in Kenai replacing Enstar's gas lines. ACS will work out in the ROW Mon-Sat 12 hours a day. This will require flaggers at each intersection with the Kenai Spur to cross driveways and sidestreets, detours may also be needed at Ross St and Strawberry using Wortham Avenue as a detour route.
Enstar will begin mid May to allow the ground to thaw working 6 days a week Mon- Sat.
In August, QAP can begin road work with utilities out of the way and tentatively plan to work on the 33' deep culvert south of Churchill and the rest of the road to Sports Lake if time allows. We will also plan to widen the road if time allows, but this section will not be paved and remain a two lane road through the winter, only excavated out and filled in to make it 5 lanes wide.
Viking Electric will be on site in tentatively in August installing conduit for our 192 light poles that will mainly focus from Dolly Vardon to Eagle Rock and also installing 100 pile foundations for the light poles, the other 92 light poles will be installed once the widening is complete the next couple years.
In the Spring of 2027 the remainder of the road will be widened and paved its first layer of asphalt. In 2027 the existing asphalt will be removed and building up the road in the low spots and cutting down the high spots, these are significant cuts and fills, cutting down the hills about 14'. In 2028 the final lift of asphalt will be paved and the road complete.
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) plans to rehabilitate and improve the safety of the 5.7-mile segment of the Kenai Spur Highway located between Soldotna and Kenai, Alaska.
The Kenai Spur Highway serves as a critical link between the communities of Kenai and Soldotna. Situated between two five-lane segments, a 5.7-mile segment of the highway from Milepost (MP) 2.4 to 8.1 bottlenecks to two lanes. This part of the roadway has higher crash rates than the statewide average, and also has the second-highest rate of moose collisions in Alaska, so safety improvements are needed. The project is a priority for both the Kenai Peninsula Borough and the State of Alaska. The project is funded with a combination of state and federal funding.
For this rehabilitation project, the five-lane highway design includes two 12-foot through-lanes in each direction and a continuous 14-foot, Two-Way Left-Turn Lane (TWLTL). These project improvements will match the section of Kenai Spur Highway from S. Forest Drive to Swires Road and carry the design through Sports Lake Road. The additional through-lanes will provide safe passing opportunities, reduce traffic platooning, and ease associated driver frustration. The continuous TWLTL will remove vehicles waiting for left-turn opportunities from through-lanes, lowering the risk of rear-end collisions. Continuous lighting will be installed between Delta Avenue and Dolly Varden Street to complete continuous lighting between Kenai and Soldotna.
Phase 1 – Eagle Rock Drive to Swires Road
Phase 1 was completed in summer 2020.
Phase 2 – Sports Lake Road to Eagle Rock Drive
In July and August 2020, a contractor cleared all trees, shrubs, and brush within the highway right-of-way (ROW) and certain utility easements along the road.
Phase 2 was advertised for competitive construction bids in July 2025. Construction is currently scheduled for completion by June 2028.
Use DOT&PF's Alaska Project Exchange tools to learn more about all of DOT&PF's active construction projects statewide!