Construction in Interior Alaska: expecting to fare well, depending on funding.

• Author: Stricker, Julie
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Building Alaska

Asking about the 2014 Fairbanks construction season in January is a bit like consulting a Magic 8-Ball for an answer: You're likely to get "reply hazy, try again."

That's largely because many of the projects are dependent on government funding, which may not be approved until this spring or later, if at all. It's a story being played out all over Alaska, which is heavily dependent on federal and state funding, both of which are on the wane, according to an analysis by Northern Economics, an Anchorage-based consulting firm.

Interior Alaska is expected to fare better than the state as a whole, with some growth projected in the military and construction sectors. But even there, projects are largely dependent on Congress and the Legislature. A top priority is a new heat and power plant for the University of Alaska Fairbanks and several projects are being overseen by the US Army Corps of Engineers under the military construction program.

Military Projects

"We've got ourselves poised to go as soon as funding is approved," says Mark Coburn, acting chief of the Military Branch Program and Project Management Division for the US Army Corps of Engineers. "Any time between now and March, but it's sometimes as late as June before we've gotten the construction money. You lose a lot of construction season that way, but that's out of our hands," he adds with a laugh.

If, however, all of the stars align and Congress passes all of the appropriations, 2014 could be one of the last big seasons for military construction in Interior Alaska, Corps of Engineers officials say.

"All of our work has shifted up north for the most part for the military," says Curt Biberdorf, a public affairs specialist for the Corps of Engineers. "For us, you can say it's fairly busy, but it's all concentrated on that one aviation task force. Military construction is in decline. We've had our big surge of buildup and now it's on the downslope."

One major project already under way is the Northern Rail Extension, which will extend Alaska Railroad's infrastructure from North Pole another eighty miles southeast to Delta ]unction. The project will be built in four phases with a total cost of $650 million to $850 million. The first phase is a bridge over the Tanana River at Salcha, which is expected to cost $188 million and has a July 2014 completion date.

Phase 2 includes laying track from Moose Creek to the Tanana River Crossing. It is currently unfunded.

The bulk of the Corps of...