ANC Construction: Statewide projects highlight unique expertise.

• Author: Kay, Alexandra
• Position: ALASKA NATIVE SPECIAL SECTION

As Alaska Native regional, village, and urban corporations have grown and expanded since the early '70s, many have taken advantage of traditional knowledge of their lands to build a knowledge base that informs their endeavors across many industries. Particularly for construction projects, the ability of Alaska Native corporations to find local, quality workers and their long history with Alaska's weather and terrain allows them to successfully complete projects that other companies may not know exactly how to begin.

Additionally, Alaska Native corporations can find efficiencies by leveraging their lands--through quarries or other natural resources--to help project owners get projects done on time and on budget.

Below, we highlight a few projects taken by Alaska Native corporations and/or their subsidiaries across the state that highlight their expertise and their dedication in making sure Alaskans have access to the infrastructure they need.

Brice, Inc.

The city of Emmonak sits on the Yukon River Delta just ten miles from the Bering Sea and about 400 miles northwest of Anchorage and is accessible by the Yukon River or by air. Because of its location, city roads have settlement and subsidence issues, and the city's port is subject to erosion. Brice Incorporated, a subsidiary of Calista Corporation that specializes in heavy civil construction in remote Alaskan locations, is supplying rock materials for the repair and upgrade of Emmonak city roads and won a contract for the project to expand the city's port, which is vital to providing necessary supplies to the city and its residents.

The road project began in August 2020 with Brice Inc. mining and barging aggregate rock materials from the cities of Saint Mary's and Mertarvik on two articulated tug and barges. Once the material arrived, a ground crew performed the upgrades to the city roads, including placement and spreading of aggregate material in order to raise the elevation of the roads and improve drainage. The project was suspended for the winter season and started again this spring, and it's slated for completion this month.

As a critical infrastructure project, Brice's upgrade of Emmonak roads took place even while the COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of the world. "We worked with the city to develop a comprehensive COVID-19 mitigation and management plan that would allow our crews in to do the critical work without increasing risk to local residents," said Project Manager Paul Walsh...