Corps of Engineers take on one of their largest projects yet

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - In August 2022, the Alaska Corps of Engineers broke ground on one of the largest construction projects in its history.

The team of almost 100 employees has spent the last several months excavating 1.3 million cubic yards on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson as they start to transform runway 16-24 from 7,500 feet to 10,000 feet long.

“This truly is a mega project,” Project Manager Daly Yates said. “This will bring the total operational capacity of JBER to two 10,000-foot runways. This will definitely help their mission capabilities.”

On JBER, the project has been in the works for a long time. U.S. Air Force Col. Sam Todd recalls conversations about the project happening 10 years ago. Todd said that the improvements on base are much-needed.

“It’s finally here, it’s about time,” Todd said. “It’s significant to the Air Force that we extend the runway that goes north and south, just because it’s going to give us a lot of backup capability, increase our daily operations that we are able to use, all our visiting aircraft, some of our throughput missions are going to be improved significantly.”

The project is set to be completed in September of 2025. But crews are making steady progress through the winter.

“You’ve seen these crazy winter storms we’ve had where we’ve had about 45 inches of snow over eight days, and really it hasn’t put that big of a dent into their construction schedule,” Yates said. “We’re at 1.3 million cubic yards of excavation out of 12 million cubic yards.”

Copyright 2023 KTUU. All rights reserved.