Former Wrench
Senior Member
The Ketchikan, Alaska, 3rd Ave. Extension was completed about 10 years ago. Because the terrain is so narrow and steep, there is only one road through town at some locations which really jammed up traffic when tour ships were in town. The solution was to create a bypass by carving a bench out of the mountain to extend an existing street and tie into another neighborhood.
The project involved massive retaining walls. The elevated structures in some of the photos show how the utility corridor was carried through the project area allowing work to be done beneath. Not sure why that was done.
The project got out of control and ended up costing $30+ mil for a little more than 1 mile of road. The project had trouble with the rock/blasting and the wall design. Originally the plan was to grind rock instead of blasting because of the homes below. The rock was harder than anticipated, causing the grinder to break down and/or not make distance milestones.
It is done and a beautiful place to view the Tongass Narrows.
The project involved massive retaining walls. The elevated structures in some of the photos show how the utility corridor was carried through the project area allowing work to be done beneath. Not sure why that was done.
The project got out of control and ended up costing $30+ mil for a little more than 1 mile of road. The project had trouble with the rock/blasting and the wall design. Originally the plan was to grind rock instead of blasting because of the homes below. The rock was harder than anticipated, causing the grinder to break down and/or not make distance milestones.
It is done and a beautiful place to view the Tongass Narrows.
