s the 2021 summer construction season comes to a close, there is a renewed optimism in the industry. Despite the lingering uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, designers, contractors, and crews were prepared to manage health and safety with well-established mask and social distancing protocols along with vaccine accessibility. New challenges presented themselves in the form of labor and materials shortages, an indirect effect of manufacturing disruptions last year and current shipping complications worldwide. Regardless, designers and contractors completed several projects statewide, with many more on the horizon for 2022.

Every project starts with a solid design. The design phase usually starts several years before construction, though the timeline varies depending on the urgency of a project, the financial resources of a client, and the capacity of everyone involved.

R&M Consultants, an Anchorage-based, multi-disciplined firm, saw the completion in 2021 of several projects they designed during the last decade. One of their main design projects was a major improvement to a 5-mile stretch of the Seward Highway. Mile 100 to 105 is known as a highly trafficked area where drivers regularly speed past the Turnagain Arm community of Indian. Crews reconstructed 5 miles of the Seward Highway in the Bird Creek and Indian areas and improved drainage infrastructure and safety by widening the turn lanes in two critical areas. The Indian Creek Bridge was reconstructed and raised, enabling the bike path to pass under the bridge to the other side without pedestrians needing to cross the highway. The pathway was extended farther toward Anchorage, enabling access from the neighboring communities. Streams were rerouted and re-established to further improve fish habitat along the corridor. R&M completed the design in 2014. Mass Excavation (MassX) completed the construction for this project in 2021.

A smaller but equally important project design by R&M that is nearing the end of construction is Phase II of the Chanshtnu Muldoon Park. The park, at the intersection of Debarr Road and Muldoon Road in East Anchorage, opened in June 2018 after crews completed Phase I, including a skating loop, playground, and farmers’ market area. Phase II focuses on the central area of the park and includes a mix of facilities and natural areas. Improvements include an off-leash dog park, community garden and food forest, parking lot, bouldering and nature play area, bicycle pump park, landscaping, trails, and overlooks. This project is a continuation of an approved 2015 master plan developed by the Municipality of Anchorage Parks and Recreation department. R&M completed the Phase II design in 2015. Construction began in fall 2019 and wrapped up this summer.

“Residents didn’t really have a park or playground until Phase I of the Chanshtnu Park was completed,” says Christine White, communications manager for R&M Consultants. “Now the community has an area for kids to play, people can congregate, and eventually those who don’t have large yards can have a place to grow food.”

Shannon & Wilson, a geotechnical engineering and environmental consultancy firm headquartered in Seattle, completed several design projects this year. A project for the US Coast Guard in Kodiak required both it’s geotechnical engineers and design services for a cargo dock expansion before the arrival of new cutter ships in the next few years. Their geotech engineers characterized soils and collected information that designers used when creating their plans. In addition to dock expansion, the project includes housing, office space, and additional storage areas.

“This project greatly expands the Coast Guard’s capabilities in Kodiak,” says Shannon & Wilson Vice President Kyle Brennan. “The Coast Guard provides an important service to this state and country by protecting our waters and assisting with search and rescue operations.”

The Municipality of Anchorage requested similar services for the design of Anchorage Water and Waste Utility’s (AWWU) King Street Warm Vehicle Storage Building. Shannon & Wilson began the geotechnical work last year and continued through this year. This expansion includes a building to house existing vehicles, new vehicles, equipment, and code compliant workspaces necessary to operate and maintain water and sewer infrastructure during planned and emergency activities. Brennan says the existing facility is in good condition; however, as the Anchorage population grows and demand increases for water and wastewater services, an expanded warm storage building will allow AWWU to better respond to emergencies and avoid long delays in service.

In addition to the Seward Highway MP 100-105 project, MassX completed several additional projects in 2021, including projects in Southeast. MassX was founded as a subsidiary of Davis Constructors and Engineers, a well-established statewide general contractor, and is now a separate entity acting as a civil contractor offering a diverse range of services, from large project development to intricate building site improvement details.

MassX recently completed the logistically challenging Tudor Bingo Water Rehabilitation, near the Seward Highway overpass at Tudor Road. The project required isolating a service tee off a 20-inch water main to replace the deteriorating pipes without stopping water to surrounding businesses and residents. Crews excavated 25 feet deep across almost all lanes with only a thirty-day contract completion time and a fourteen-day closure allowance for Tudor Road. The detour increased adjacent road congestion and risks to a construction crew inside a closure.

“The project team used the excavation spoils as a giant barricade for extra protection for the crew on both the east and west ends of the project,” says MassX Vice President and General Manager Mark Erickson. “The project was executed very efficiently, and the impact to the travelling public was minimized.”

In 2021, Davis Constructors started two important projects in Midtown Anchorage. Currently underway is the renovation of the space in which REI was previously located at Northern Lights Boulevard and Spenard Road, which will become a new Providence Medical Group Midtown Clinic.

Phase II of the Chanshtnu Muldoon Park, designed by R&M Consultants, provides an outdoor recreation space for residents in the neighborhood who previously had to travel somewhere else for family activities.

R&M Consultants

“The client selected this location due to the lack of primary care access in the area,” says Matthew Helzer, project manager for Davis. “This new clinic allows providers to serve people throughout Anchorage.”

When completed, the 17,848 gross square feet will include a clinic, a physical therapy gym, and an urgent care clinic co-located on the first floor. The common areas will also feature two new stairwells, an elevator, entry vestibule, and lobby. The clinic features fifteen exam rooms, three behavioral health/consult rooms, and associated support spaces. In partnership, the Providence Medical Group and Urgent Care clinic teams identified synergies between the two projects, eliminating the duplication of usable spaces for both clinics, such as shared clean utility storage, soiled utility storage, restrooms, laboratory spaces, exam rooms, and waiting and reception areas.

Also in 2021, Davis Constructors began the Covenant House of Alaska Expansion and Renovation Project on A Street in Downtown Anchorage. The project consists of a 9,471-square-foot addition to the existing Youth Engagement Center to create twenty-two new on-site “micro-unit” apartments to serve young people ages eighteen to twenty-four who are experiencing homelessness.

Both Davis projects are scheduled for completion in 2022.

One of the most time intensive projects handled by Cornerstone General Contractors, an all-Alaskan firm specializing in education, government, healthcare, housing, and industrial sectors, was the earthquake repair of Gruening Middle School in Eagle River. The building sustained extensive damage in the 7.1 magnitude earthquake in 2018. Pearl-Grace Pantaleone, Cornerstone’s business development and marketing manager, says it was one of the few schools deemed too dangerous for students, and for two and a half years Gruening students attended class at Chugiak High School. The Anchorage School District approved funding and a design/build contract with Cornerstone in the spring of 2020, and immediately designers went to work. Pantaleone calls it one of the most logistically challenging projects, as crews of more than 150 people had to complete eighteen months of construction work in twelve months so that students could return to the building by fall of 2021.

“So many scopes of work happened simultaneously,” says Pantaleone. “With COVID, we took every safety measure and social distanced as much as possible. We are proud to say we had no COVID outbreaks on this project.”

With an early cold snap, Cornerstone decided to finish remaining landscaping details next year.

Farther north, Cornerstone also completed the Interior Gas Utility (IGU) Liquid Natural Gas Storage and Vaporization Facility in North Pole. The facility allows IGU to further natural gas expansion into Interior communities. The project included the construction of administrative offices and storage for two 75,000-gallon LNG storage tanks. IGU installed 72 miles of distribution lines around North Pole and fifteen service lines last year. Pantaleone says IGU has already seen an increase in conversions to natural gas in the North Pole area since the facility was completed in February.

In mid-May, Watterson Construction, an Alaskan owned and operated commercial contractor, began the first phase of the Spenard East Project, a forty-eight-unit Cook Inlet Housing Authority (CIHA) development consisting of three buildings surrounding a small park. The buildings are on land across the street from existing CIHA housing on the corner of 36th Avenue and Spenard Road in Anchorage. When completed—anticipated in July 2022—these buildings will offer a mix of senior and affordable family housing. Project Manager Shawn Morgan says the new buildings will go a long way toward decreasing the shortage of affordable housing in Anchorage.

Watterson Construction also began renovation of Fort Wainwright Building 1001 in Fairbanks. The barracks were first built in 1946 and had to be gutted before remodeling the interior as a more livable facility for unaccompanied soldiers. Crews will also install new exterior insulation to upgrade the building envelope. The design/build project was awarded last year, but the start was delayed six months due to the pandemic. The building is projected to be finished in late 2022.

Compared to 2020, designers and contractors expressed greater satisfaction with the 2021 season. Overall, they found the workflow steady and timelines flexible despite disruptions in the supply chain. Communication played a big role in making sure stakeholders understood the reason for project delays and rescheduling. Everyone agreed that their clients were incredibly understanding of the situation as the pandemic had affected nearly everyone’s life either personally or professionally.

“We experienced similar supply shortages that the industry as a whole experienced,” says Ryan Watterson, preconstruction & development manager for Watterson Construction. “A lot of projects were successfully completed given the circumstances. A lot of that boils down to finding different products to fulfill the same role and rearranging things to make the material schedule work for the project.”

Projects in the queue for 2022 fall into two major categories: health and infrastructure. R&M Consultants has several designs ready to start the construction phase, including the renovation of four airports in Bethel, Ekwok, Kipnuk, and Togiak.

Shannon & Wilson will continue geotech work on several sites affected by the 2018 earthquake. Brennan says repairing damaged infrastructure is a high priority for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. However, its other major infrastructure project is along the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad near Skagway. Currently, the railroad is replacing a bridge along the railway system, and Shannon & Wilson will start work on a 70-foot retaining wall that will support the soil along this section of the pass. Brennan says this project is extremely important to Skagway’s economy since they can’t run the train past a certain point, which affects popular tourism and travel.

Cornerstone General Contractors will tackle another school project in 2022. The Inlet View Elementary School replacement in Anchorage is scheduled for the design and preconstruction phase; however, Pantaleone says that crews may break ground in April depending on the outcome of a proposed school bond. The replacement school will be built on a lot adjacent to the existing structure to avoid placing students in portable buildings. Once the new school is completed, crews will demolish the old structure and build a playground. Pantaleone says the new school is needed since the existing structure, built in 1957, has aged out. The new Inlet View Elementary will also have a capacity for 300 students; the current building contains about 250 with a designed capacity of 168.

Watterson Construction also recently signed a contract to start construction on the expansion and replacement of the Girdwood Health Clinic. Morgan says the clinic will enhance the capability of social service and mental healthcare while increasing the ability to offer intensive medical services. Phase I of this project began in August and is slated to finish in April of 2022, at which time Phase II and Phase III will begin, with turnover in the Fall of 2022.

Though no one has a crystal ball, and no one is yet ready to speak with certainty about the future, designers and contractors are still positive that 2022 will continue to move closer to normal as the supply chain stabilizes and materials edge closer to pre-pandemic prices. It is generally agreed that the Biden administration’s infrastructure bill would positively affect the construction industry, as Alaska would receive a significant amount of funding.