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Kanakanak Road closing at Airport "Y" Wednesday 4 pm

Clark Fair

Traffic will be routed to Waskey Road while crews install a large stream pipe for Squaw Creek.

KDLG: On Wednesday, part of Dillingham’s Kanakanak Road will close as crews begin installing a large stream pipe at the Airport “Y".

The road closure should begin at 4 p.m. Wednesday, which was timed after the last school bus drop-offs for the year.

Credit Matt Martin, KDLG
Work will get underway none too soon after days of heavy rains. Photo taken Wednesday afternoon.

"We expect [the closure] to last about two weeks," said Jill Reese, the media liason for Dept. of Transportation's Central Region. "Kanakanak Road will be closed from Squaw Creek Road to Squaw Creek, and West Airport Road over Squaw Creek will be closed, just as it is now."

This closure should allow crews to install the stream pipe ahead of the salmon run.

The other half of the Airport "Y" will remain open, with access from Kanakanak Road, which wasn’t clear on a flyer that went out in the mail to residents last week.

"There had been a question on that mailer, but it was just a bleed over, and we want people to know there will still be access," said Reese.

Pedestrians and bike traffic will still be able to pass through the construction zone on a short detour of the path, similar to the Scandinavian Creek route last summer.

The official vehicle detour to get to town is lengthy, using Waskey Road to Wood River Road and back to Kanakanak Road. A DOT requirement, Reese said, is that the official detour have a similar capacity to the normal route, which Waskey Road offers. Waskey Road, unsurfaced, is also prone to pot holes after rains, but according to Reese it will be grated often to keep travel smooth.

"It will be, yes," she said. "We have put on extra contracts for maintenance of this entire area and all of these projects throughout the winter, and we will be continuing that throughout the summer."

DOT expects this culvert work to be done and the road reopened by June 4. Some of the actual resurfacing of Kanakanak Road will begin in the middle of June, and the rest completed between July 15 and 25.