2002 Construction at $4.7 billion: the state is abuzz with construction activity-everything...

The construction industry is in full swing, with about $4.7 billion being spent on activities this year in Alaska. Resident voters will help determine if that amount slightly rises or declines in 2003.

"There could be $5 billion for construction for 2003," said Richard Cattanach, executive

As a result of Senate Bill 525 and House Bill 2002, ballots will be cast in the fall to determine if $262 million will be put aside for general obligation bonds toward funding highway projects and more than $150 million in general obligation bonds toward school construction--with an additional $62 million for the University of Alaska.

Regardless of the outcome, a surfeit of various construction projects is in the works at the moment, and much of that work will continue through 2003 and beyond.

FEDERAL

"The Alaska District's construction program will be expanding for at least the next three years," said Steve Boardman, assistant chief of programs and project management division for the U.S. Anny Corps of Engineers. "Our total program, including design, construction and management, will top $400 million this year and next."

According to Boardman, the largest projects are support facilities for the ground-based missile defense and the Bassett hospital replacement "We have many ongoing projects for the Air Force and the Army in Alaska," he said. "We expect to finish construction of new harbors at Ouzinkie this fall and at Chignik in 2003. We just signed a cooperation agreement for a new harbor at Nome. We hope to start that construction next summer."

The Bassett Army Replacement Hospital on Fort Wainwright is a $215 million, four-phase project of the Alaska District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Department of Defense Medical Facilities Office; U.S. Army Alaska; MEDDAC-Alaska (Bassett Army Community Hospital); Health Facilities Planning Agency; the architectural-engineering design team of HKS Inc./Wingler & Sharp of Texas; as well as Alaska consultants--HMS Estimating, Arctic Slope Consulting Group, DOWL Engineers and Land Design North--and the construction contractor.

The construction contract was awarded in February to the joint venture firms of Dick Pacific, Anchorage, and GHEMM Co., headquartered in Fairbanks, in the amount of $178 million. This construction contract is Phase II of the replacement hospital program. Foundations, footings and steel fabrication were in the works at press time. In June, around 50 people were working on the project That number is expected to crest to 150 by August The project's pinnacle construction years will be 2003 and 2004.

The new facility, adjacent to the existing structure, will be a 269,000-squarefoot replacement hospital designed for Fairbanks' subarctic climate that will be built to operate through an extreme earthquake.

Phase I, site development, was completed last year by Exclusive Landscaping of Fairbanks. Phase III will include the installation of medical and communications equipment. Phase IV will bring the demolition of the existing hospital.

In April, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) awarded a construction contract to Fluor Alaska Inc. for test bed facilities at Fort Greely and Eareckson Air Force Station on Shemya Island that will be used to validate the U.S. Ground-Based Midcourse Missile Defense System. The contract could amount to 250 million in construction, or possibly more, if all items are executed. The new test facilities will cover about 260 acres at Fort Greely and a small area at Eareckson.

Fluor and its subcontractors will provide work for several hundred personnel at the high point of the Fort Greely construction activity. The government's intention is to provide a maximum opportunity for Alaska firms and qualified Alaskans to be employed in this construction project.

According to Jeff Pruss, business representative with Alaska Regional Council of Carpenters, Local 1243 in Fairbanks, the construction of around a dozen buildings are associated with the support facility project. Construction of the largest structure was subcontracted to Watterson Construction Co., a nonunion company. However, the components of the Project Labor Agreement primarily lean toward union hire. "We had good negotiations with Fluor," Pruss said. "We look forward to working with them."

Construction is a phased process that kicked off in June at Fort Greely and is scheduled to be completed during 2004.

Major renovations and upgrades continue on the 50-year-old power plant at Fort Wainwright. When work is completed in 2005, particulate emissions will be filtered before entering the atmosphere and waste heat will be eliminated in a safe manner. Work is expected to cost around $54 million.

This immense project is divided into four construction contracts. The first, awarded to Alaska Mechanical Inc. in 2000, covers repairs of the boilers and the coal and ash handling systems. This contract should be completed in December 2003 or early 2004. In June, the USACE awarded a construction contract to GHEMM Co. in the amount of nearly $18.5 million toward emission control system improvements to the plant. Construction should be completed in late 2004. A contract to improve and upgrade the cooling system should be awarded in September.

Finally, a study to determine if additional work will be needed to complete the total project was scheduled to be wrapped up shortly after press time.

The new harbors at Ouzinkie, Chignik and Nome are just a few of the civil projects that are in various stages--design, acquisition or construction--at this time. The new harbor and entrance channel at Nome is a $40 million project set for acquisition in January. Designs for a harbor expansion in Seward, new harbor construction in Wrangell and harbor improvements on St. Paul Island are expected to be completed this fall.

SCHOOLS

Anchorage School District is spending around $63 million this year on projects currently under way, $78 million on capital projects, $4 million on maintenance of existing structures and $2.2 million on forward-funded design. Foremost focus is on the rebuilding or total renewal of all the district's high schools, which began in 1999. Work is under way at Chugiak High, East High and Service High schools.

Around $48 million is budgeted to replace the existing Dimond High School with a 268,000-square-foot, two-story structure designed for 1,600 students. The new high school is scheduled to be completed next spring, with students and staff moving in fall semester 2003. As of early June, construction was fairly well along--on budget and ahead of schedule, according to Roger Fiedler, public affairs specialist, Anchorage School District. "There are portions where classrooms are pretty well completed," he said, "all the way down to cabinets and carpets."

General contractor mobilization and abatement activities were scheduled to begin at press time on a replacement school for Denali Elementary, budgeted at $11.2 million. Construction is scheduled to proceed through the summer of 2003.

School replacements are also taking place in Togiak, at a cost of nearly $25 million and at Koyuk at $9.3 million. Major improvements and renovations include Kiana K-12 at $12.6 million and Juneau-Douglas High School (JDHS) at $13 million. JDHS Principal Deb Morse said she turned the keys over to Coogan Construction Co. in Juneau on Sunday, June 9, so construction could commence the following day.

Improvements are taking place at higher education institutes as well. The University of Alaska has been appropriated $106 million to spend on construction projects over the next three years. Work began this spring on the University of Alaska Anchorage's campus library addition, part of a $44 million project, which should be completed in July 2003.

Using state and federal funds, the University of Alaska Fairbanks is spending $31 million to expand and renovate its museum. Construction should be completed by late summer 2005. When finished, the museum will grow to 81,000-square feet, which is nearly double its current size.

The University of Alaska Southeast is spending around $8 million for an addition to its Egan Library Building. The exterior is completed and the interior should be finished by December, ready for use in January for spring semester 2003. The addition features 16 classrooms added onto two stories. Paramount will be an amphitheater intended to seat 154. "It will be the largest classroom on campus," said UAS Information Officer Scott Foster.

RAILROAD

Dramatic upgrades and improvements are taking place up and down Alaska Railroad's lines. The work includes, among many other projects, line straightening, new terminals, rail yard expansion and much more.

An estimated $11.5 million is budgeted for project design, construction and administration of an intermodel facility and depot in Fairbanks. The new facility will sit on a 32-acre site adjacent to the Alaska Railroad operations yard. Completion is scheduled for the summer of 2003.

Unit Company of Anchorage should complete the final stage of construction late this summer on ARR's new rail terminal located north of the existing parking garage at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. The 17,300-square-foot terminal provides a second-floor passenger assembly area, offices and lease space on the ground floor, and an underground pedestrian tunnel connecting with the airport's newly constructed Concourse C.

Work is on track for the $4.5 million Denali National Park Rail Station project that includes construction of anew access road and parking facilities, demolition of the existing platform and construction of a larger platform, site landscaping, drainage improvements and more. Construction should be concluded in the spring of 2003.

The railroad's largest construction project this summer is the Anchorage to Wasilla track realignments. "The Anchorage Wasilla line change is our biggest right now in terms of money, amount of earth moved and impact," said ARR Public Affairs Officer Patrick Flynn.

The Anchorage to Eagle River budget is $54 million, with $30.2 million currently funded by the Federal Railroad Administration, and the remaining $23.8 million anticipated over the next few years. The Eagle River to Wasilla budget is $23.8 million, 80 percent funded by the Federal Transit Administration and 20 percent by ARR.

Project impacts are manifold. Reducing track curvature will increase speeds that freight and passenger trains can safely travel. Once completed, train travel time between Anchorage and Wasilla is expected to drop from 90 minutes to 58 minutes. As a result, shorter travel times will reduce costs associated with relief train and engine crews. For example, the run to Fairbanks will be able to be made in less than 12 hours, according to Flynn, which means ARR will not have to change crews en route. And overall, the track realignments will help reduce wear and tear on rails and trains.

Line straightening between Anchorage and Eagle River is completed. Eagle River to Wasilla construction is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2004.

AIRPORTS

Alaska State Department of Transportation and Public Facilities owns and operates 261 public airports. Plans for construction at some of the smaller airports across the state are in the works, but at this time major construction is under way at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. The entire Terminal and Airside/Landside improvements project is budgeted at $230 million and is part of the $350 million, 10-year Gateway Alaska plan. The Terminal Redevelopment Project at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport calls for demolition of the old C Concourse and constructing a new terminal in its place, as well as renovation and reconfiguration of the existing domestic terminal. The project also includes construction of a new rail terminal located north of the existing parking garage at the airport.

In June, terminal redevelopment construction was 46 percent completed by budget. Construction contracts awarded at that time totaled $153 million. Current construction activity includes Phase I and II of Concourse C (structural and building completion) awarded to Kiewit Construction; Concourse C Apron, also awarded to Kiewit; and Landside Civil Improvements Phase II (roads and landscaping), awarded to Summit Roads. Concourse C Phase II Building and Apron contracts awarded to Kiewit in September totaled $85.5 million. Substantial completion is scheduled for December 2003. Landside Civil Improvements was scheduled for completion by press time.

Also by press time, Phase I (structural excavation, foundations and more) was about 97 percent completed. Phase II provides for completion of the expanded Domestic Terminal Core and new Concourse C, upon completion of the foundations and structural steel frame under the Phase I construction contract. Upon completion, the domestic terminal and new Concourse C will total 447,000-square-feet of new airport terminal space, more than doubling the size of the existing Domestic South Terminal.

The North/South Taxiway Project, which will improve aircraft operations by reducing runway and taxiway occupancy times and reducing departure delays, was split into a three-phase design project. The overall design of taxiway was completed in spring 2001. Wilder Construction was the successful bidder for Phase I construction and will be working through the fall of this year. The entire construction project should be completed in 2004. The project team consists of DOWL Engineers, under contract with the Department of Transportation and in cooperation with the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

ROADS

It is estimated that the Department of Transportation will spend around $457 million this year on construction projects involving major work on Alaska's highways, as well as improvements in assorted communities. Some highway projects include the $48.1 million construction of the Parks Highway/Glenn Highway Interchange; Glenn Highway rehabilitation, bridge replacement and highway reconstruction totaling around $35 million to $45 million; and paving miles 28 to 72 of the Elliot Highway at about $13 million.

Improvements continue on the Dalton Highway. Around $15 million is slated for improvements at 70-mile Elliot Highway, where the Dalton begins. Dalton paving and upgrades started in 2001. The work is being done in sections; each costs between $10 million and $20 million.

Other highway projects include $3.7 million on a slide repair program at Beaver Creek on the Alaska Highway, work on the Whittier Ferry Access Road, and repaving Tongass Avenue in Ketchikan. The Ketchikan Third Avenue Extension is among the most complex construction projects taking place in Alaska this year. The work requires excavation, drilling and blasting within 100 feet of residential homes. The cost is expected to be between $10 million and $20 million.

Finally, a $9 million, two-phase safety project in the Nenana Canyon at the entrance to Denali Park will create facilities for pedestrians, a trail to the park entrance, and a secondary trail bridge across the river.

Community enhancement projects include improvements on C Street in Anchorage from International Airport Road to Dimond Boulevard. South Anchorage will receive improvements on Dowling Road between the Old Seward Highway and Lake Otis Parkway. The majority of that construction will take place next year. The project will cost around $10 million.

COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL

Eminent commercial construction projects in 2002 are taking place in Anchorage and Wasilla. Safeway/Carrs is constructing a new $5.5 million, 68,000-square-foot store on Abbott Road and Best Buy is scheduled to open an electronics store at the Dimond Center in October with construction costs hovering around $3 million. Finally, a new $14.7 million, l04,400-square-foot multi-sports complex that will also work for conventions and civic events is scheduled to open in Wasilla in the fall of 2003.

Chuck Spinelli, president of the Anchorage Home Builders Association and head of Spinell Homes Inc., expects construction in the housing industry this year to run around the same as 2001. "I can't see any reason for things to change in the next few years," he said.

Roughly 1,000 to 1,200 new homes will be built around he state in 2002. "Wasilla is the brightest star in gaining building permits," Spinelli said. "It's exploded the last few years."