Project Overview

South Tongass Highway serves the Cities of Ketchikan and Saxman as well as the entire Ketchikan Gateway Borough (KGB). The South Tongass Highway is the only highway on Revillagigedo Island that provides travel connections between the City of Ketchikan and communities to the south. The highway is located in steep topography next to Tongass Narrows, with many private driveways, limited shoulders, and an adjacent pathway. The highway is currently an undivided, two-lane roadway.

The purpose of the project is to improve operations on South Tongass Highway. The DOT&PF has identified the need to resurface, restore, and rehabilitate this portion of the highway and the related non-motorized facilities to improve the safe movement of vehicle, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic.

Key Project Features

The following project improvements are planned:

• Maintaining or, in some places, widening the highway
• Reconstructing the bike/pedestrian pathway
• Extending the pathway through Saxman
• Adding new sidewalks between Deermount Street and Community Connections
• Improving drainage (including new inlets, storm drains, ditches, and culverts)
• Relocating utilities 
• Rock cuts may be needed to widen the road in some locations
• Bus stop turnouts and shelters may be constructed at locations determined in coordination with the Ketchikan Gateway Borough (KGB) Transit Manager and the City of Saxman