The Alaska Department of Transportation will expand the ferry terminal next year in preparation for two additional Alaska class ferries slated to serve the upper Lynn Canal beginning next year.
The $27 million project will add two additional berths to the ferry terminal along with an additional building for passengers waiting to board, said DOT engineering manager David Lowell.
“We are looking to begin construction around the beginning of 2019,” Lowell said. “We expect it to take about six months. Much of the infrastructure you’ll end up seeing there will be fabricated off site in the Pacific Northwest.”
Most of the project’s funding will come from the Federal Highway Administration. Ninety-one percent of the project funding consists of the federal funds and the rest is a state match, ADOT public information officer Aurah Landau said.
The new ferries should be delivered to the state later this year, but aren’t expected to carry passengers until 2019. The new ferries can dock at the Haines ferry terminal while construction is underway, Landau said.
The new ferries, M/V Tazlina and M/V Hubbard are nearing completion. All modules of the Tazlina have been completed and the Hubbard is under construction, Landau said.
Landau said the new ferries should help decrease winter cancellations. Between weather and mechanical issues, sailings were cancelled for more than a week in January.
“The new Alaska-class ferries should be able to run in the kind of weather that’s forced recent Lynn Canal cancellations,” Landau said. “They’re bigger boats than the LeConte. They’re longer, wider, deeper, and heavier and they can handle much higher winds and seas. Bringing those boats online will offer more reliable Lynn Canal winter service.”
The Legislature has cut the Alaska Marine Highway Service’s budget by $29 million since fiscal year 2013 and two boats have removed from the fleet.
State construction projects this year in Haines include the airport drainage improvements and pavement rehabilitation, and the Haines Highway reconstruction from 3.9 Mile to 12.2 Mile. Other projects slated for construction but not yet put to bid include improvements to the airport access road, Haines Highway resurfacing from Allen Road to 3.5 Mile and the Old Haines Highway to Mud Bay Road.