Progress continues on the Wood River Bridge project. KDLG’s Chase Cavanaugh has more.
The city of Aleknagik is partway toward finishing a bridge that would connect opposite sides of the Wood River. According to Acting City Administrator Lisa Hodgson, the project was spurred by residents desire for safer river crossings.
“Residents of North Shore were concerned about safety, and the end goal is to connect the South Shore of Aleknagik to the North Shore with a bridge so that the residents on the North Shore can cross to Dillingham safely.”
Currently, people cross by skiff in the summer and snow machine in the winter. The project, which began in the spring, has already made significant progress on road construction.
“On North Shore, a subcontractor has finished about 50% of the new road and on South Shore, it’s about 85% complete.”
The crews, overseen by Mowat Construction, are now working in the river itself.
“Currently they are in the process of building a temporary work trestle bridge so that next year, when they put up the actual bridge, they can use that bridge in order to build a final bridge.”
The temporary span will go in the water on Friday, and stay in place until project end. The two-lane bridge is expected to be completed in October of next year.