Anchorage port expansion projects benefit Alaska: few untouched in the state by the port.

• Author: Kalytiak, Tracy
• Position: TRANSPORT/CONSTRUCTION

Ever wonder how you got your morning coffee, the gas you pump into your car, the lumber and windows in your home, your favorite pair of jeans?

It's likely all those things arrived on a ship that docked at the Port of Anchorage, or as some have dubbed it, "The Port of Alaska," a facility that contributes $725 million to the state's economy each year.

Ninety percent of all consumer goods for 80 percent of Alaska's population flow through the port.

SUPPLY AND DEMAND

A growing population and a consequent demand for more goods, businesses, industries and jobs to meet the needs of Alaska's additional residents prompted the Municipality of Anchorage to embark on an ambitious multi-phase $700 million over-haul of the facility, with state and federal sources expected to provide the monetary heavy lifting.

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Some say the port doesn't need to be that big or expensive. They question why the project's cost projections have risen so rapidly over the past six years and worry that Anchorage taxpayers will be stuck with the bill for the massive endeavor.

There are also concerns about how the port expansion will affect the beluga whales and salmon that swim through the Knik Arm site where the new dock will be built, as well as about the area's extreme tides, high silt content, cold temperatures and pan ice. Of most concern is the impact a Good Friday 1964-caliber earthquake might have on the larger port and the new acreage it will be built upon.

Others, however, say expansion of the port and improvement of its connections to highways, rail and airfreight facilities will open opportunities for people who want to launch or enlarge business and industrial ventures in the state.

"We are in many ways the warehouse to many parts of the state," state economist Neal Fried said about the port. "It allows us to import goods and export goods to other parts of Alaska. It's close to the airport, tied into the road system that leads to other parts of the state, the railroad. It's a relatively efficient way to ship goods from the Lower 48 into Anchorage. Most people in the state benefit from that efficient movement of goods and services, as well as the jobs the port provides."

The port's existing dock will be removed in stages as a new 1.5-mile-long, eight-story-high, open-cell sheet-pile structure designed by PND Engineers Inc. materializes on 135 steel-and-gravel acres being created in Knik Arm.

BIGGER SHIPS

The new dock will have seven berths and two barge docks, and will be...