Massive Cooper Landing bypass road update: expected to finish in 2032

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - It’s a project that’s been discussed since not long after the gravel highway from Cooper Landing to Homer was completed in 1950.

Now, due to funding changes, engineers say the massive task won’t be open to traffic until 2032, and will come at a price tag of around $1 billion.

The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities says it has recognized the need for improvement on the Sterling Highway for years.

“This project, the Environmental Impact Statement, it started back in the 1960s, and finally, this Juneau Creek Alternative was selected in 2018,” DOT project manager Jonathan Tymick said. “We began construction in late 2020, and you know, here we are today.”

Tymick says roughly half the project has been constructed at a current cost of $450 million.

The Juneau Creek Alternative is a 10-mile stretch of highway that’s being constructed north of Cooper Landing and the Kenai River, from milepost 46.5 to milepost 56.

The state says the project will also reconstruct roughly four miles of the current Sterling Highway.

“I think once people realize that 70% of the traffic going through Cooper Landing is now going to take the bypass, it’s going to make Cooper Landing — which is a recreational destination — it’s going to make it a lot safer for people to cross the roads and do their boating and recreation and hiking,” Tymick said.

According to DOT, the project will fulfill three needs:

1. Reduce highway congestion
2. Meet current highway design standards
3. Improve highway safety

Tymick says the state has been very careful in navigating Alaska Native lands.

“We’re doing data recovery,” Tymick explained. “There’s actually 21 known sites out here. So each season, we have about 25 archeologists as a part of this program, and we’ve got years to go until that’s completed.”

The project also focuses on wildlife. Tymick says there will be five undercrossings and Alaska’s first wildlife overpass.

“Wildlife crossings here in this vicinity were studied for decades, before we decided to build them,” he explained. “So they’re going where they’re going, and they’re sized appropriately to the type of wildlife we see crossing at those locations.”

Four years into the project, crews have hit a huge milestone in reaching the Juneau Creek bridge.

“We’re in our second year of massive earthwork,” Tymick said. “We’ve got our contractor out here, kind of leveling the highs and lows, so to speak. So far, they’ve moved two and a half million cubic yards of excavation.”

That leaves roughly four million cubic yards to complete the project. Erecting the bridge will be a huge feat in and of itself.

“The Juneau Creek Bridge is going to be a steel plate girder bridge. It’s going to span over the Juneau Creek Canyon, for those that are familiar with Resurrection Pass and the Bean Creek Trail areas, and the bridge is pretty unique,” he said.

The bridge will be 928 feet long and 68 feet wide, Tymick said. It will be constructed near the canyon and launched across the canyon upon completion, expected in 2026.

“Unfortunately, this project is not able to find its way into our Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan, so we’re still working on trying to identify some funding to complete the project, so without funding identified, we’re looking at opening up the project to the public in about 2032,” Tymick said.

Tymick said the total price tag for the project will be roughly $1 billion.

It’s an investment that the state says will make the trip through Cooper Landing safer and faster.