orth Slope Borough communities were supposed to be well into a six-year program of capital improvements by now. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the timeline, but the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is revving it back up.

In 2020, the North Slope Borough approved a capital plan through 2025 with a special focus on construction projects in eight Arctic communities.

“We prioritize our projects based on life, health, and safety issues—things that will make our residents’ lives better,” says Bernadette Adams, director of the borough’s Capital Improvement Program Management. “These include things like providing water and sewer to homes or creating eight- or ten-plexes to help ease the housing crisis. Our goal is to undertake projects that will have a good impact in these communities.”

Adams says COVID-19 waylaid those construction projects. Villages imposed strict protocols for testing and isolating contractors. And, like the rest of the world, materials and equipment became difficult to acquire—which is not easy on the North Slope at the best of times.

“Our long-lead items become even longer-lead items; supply chain issues have really affected our timelines on these projects, and they continue to do so,” Adams explains. “It has also affected costs. I would say things have gone up at least 40 percent, though that number might be higher. We’re still having trouble and we’re hoping it eases up soon, but nobody knows when it will.”

One positive note is the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which steers federal money toward construction of roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports, broadband, and drinking water and wastewater projects.

For example, $925 million for Alaska port and coastal erosion projects includes $364 million for the Barrow Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Project in Utqiaġvik.

Designed to reduce the risk of storm damage to approximately five miles of coastline, the project includes rock revetment at the bluff area to replace the ocean seawall lost during 2018 storms. The community has been spending millions of dollars every year to build temporary dirt berms to protect the city and its only fresh water source.

Communities across the Arctic coast are slated for capital improvements. Here are some of the projects, from east to west.

According to Adams, the biggest project in Kaktovik is a new school, which is currently in the design phase.

“It has taken longer than expected because we want to make sure we don’t leave any money out there that we can get,” says Adams. “Right now we’re waiting on a rough estimate to share with the governor’s office; they have stated that they are interested and want to help us.”

In February 2020, the previous school burned down, and an interim school was constructed from the insurance proceeds.

“Public Works brought up modules and pieced them together, so we currently have classroom-type space, but it is not permanent,” says Adams.

The first phase of the project will be to construct a gym, which will cost at least $25 million. Burkhart Croft Architects has been contracted to do the design.

“We’re hoping to build the gym portion as the first phase because it will not only help the school but because it is used as an emergency shelter for people in the villages,” says Adams. “The gym is the heart of the community.”

Kaktovik is also undergoing a power grid upgrade, with crews replacing all the wiring and adding new poles where needed.

“In coastal communities like this, the wires get corroded easily, so every so often you have to go through and redo all of the wiring,” says Adams, estimating that project should be completed this summer.

Kaktovik also gets an upgrade to a sewage outfall line, though the location has yet to be determined. “There is some disagreement on the location right now, but hopefully that project will be underway sooner rather than later,” says Adams.

A power plant upgrade was completed before winter 2021, and the village is also near completion on a housing ten-plex, which is awaiting water/sewer connections.

“This year, we also plan to undertake a road lift to the landfill, adding insulation and gravel to build up the road, which has sunk to tundra level,” says Adams.

Looking south in the Brooks Range, Anaktuvuk Pass is lined up for a new Public Works shop and North Slope Borough administration building to replace one that burned years ago.

“This new shop is currently in the design phase, and pending funding, we’ll see when we can consider construction,” says Adams.

Water and sewer hookups were completed last summer to twenty homes, and drilling and testing was done to establish a secondary water well.

“We’re currently in the process of getting ownership or leasing land to build a new wellhouse,” says Adams.

In addition to coastal protection in the North Slope’s largest town, the first phase of the Barrow High School renovation is close to being finished. That project addressed structural and mold-specific issues in the swimming pool and locker room areas.

“The pool has not been operational for a year, and we’re hoping to have it open again soon,” says Adams.

Design is underway for mechanical and electrical systems in the rest of the school, with construction dates still to be determined.

“The building is fairly old, and we’ve had some near failures in some of the mechanical/electrical systems,” says Adams. “It’s a priority to fix those systems before something happens.”

Next year, Utqiaġvik’s water utility is due for renovation, which will include adding a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) monitoring system for monitoring and remote management of critical equipment.

“Years ago, we had a big freeze-up that left half the town without water, and we later found out that a valve was turned that caused the issue,” says Adams. “If we’d had SCADA in place, this could have been prevented, which is why the project was brought before the borough.”

Also, Phase 5 of the Utqiaġvik landfill project is ongoing, with crews closing out old cells and building out new cells.

Inland from Utqiaġvik, Atqasuk gets an upgrade to its airport. The FAA is providing 93 percent of the funding for resurfacing the runway.

“There is no gravel in Atqasuk, so it’s a very expensive project because we had to import gravel from Nome and have it barged to Barrow,” says Adams. “We did that in summer of 2020 and then brought it overland in winter of 2021.

“Now we have a huge stockpile of gravel, and we’re getting ready to hire the contractor; we’re just waiting on more FAA funds,” she adds.

An eight-plex house was recently completed in Atqasuk, and a power grid upgrade is scheduled for completion in 2023.

“The project is in design now, but there are some long-lead items that we’re trying to get that may delay the process,” says Adams, adding that the Atqasuk power grid upgrade still needs funding for construction.

To save money, the borough plans to contract with local companies to haul power poles over winter access trails. “It’s always less expensive when we don’t have to fly things in,” says Adams.

There is quite a bit of work going on in Wainwright, including the construction of a new $40 million Public Works shop.

“We had to build a temporary fabric structure to keep the equipment warm this past winter after we tore down the old building,” says Adams. “We’re building the new shop in the same spot, but first we had to dig up and send out the contaminated gravel on the site for remediation.”

The building, which begins construction this summer, is expected to be finished in 2023.

Wainwright is also undergoing a water treatment plant upgrade, which includes approximately $10 million for construction. The Alak school renovation is currently in the design process, as is a new snow fence for the outside of the village.

BlueBarronPhoto | iStock

“We’ll be building the snow fence once we get the okay from the community,” says Adams, noting that the fence’s exact location has yet to be determined. “We also know that a power plant renovation is down the road, but we don’t want to overwork our resources, so it will not be scheduled until we complete the Public Works shop.”

Point Lay is also in the process of working on a water source project to help make the lives of its residents easier.

“The area is currently getting water from the river using reverse osmosis to treat it, but we’re hoping to provide year-round access by building a well in the lagoon,” says Adams. “We’ve done some test wells, and we’re currently in the design phase for the actual well.

UMIAQ Design is working on new water and sewer designs, as the old system is failing. “This will be a huge project; the design portion alone is $6 million,” says Adams. “Right now, a lot of residents have gone to truck haul, having water brought in to fill water tanks in their homes. The ground moves there so much that the pipes just completely fail.

“Once this project is complete, they won’t have to conserve water and can do laundry whenever they want,” she adds.

Point Lay is also completing a wastewater septic receiving station. Also, an eight-plex has been completed that is expected to receive new residents soon.

After a recent gym upgrade was completed at Tikigaq School, crews moved on to undertake the kitchen upgrade, which is the final phase of the school project.

“One of the main projects in Point Hope is a wastewater treatment plant upgrade, which includes purchasing new membranes,” says Adams. “It’s not a huge upgrade, but it will ensure that the wastewater treatment plant can handle more flow.”

A secondary water source project is also in the design phase, with the goal of providing Point Hope with another option for water since the lake that currently supplies the town’s water is drastically shrinking.

Construction of a housing ten-plex has recently been completed, with water and sewer connections recently added to the building. “While no one has moved in yet, we should be placing people there soon,” says Adams.

“Our goal with all of these eight- and ten-plexes is to help ease the housing crisis in these different communities,” Adams adds. “Right now, there can be two or three generations living in one home, and this will help ease this overcrowding.”