The Alaska Railroad Corporation will receive a $17 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant for the replacement of a key bridge near Fort Wainwright, according to a news release.
The Chena River railroad bridge at Fort Wainwright is part of the railroad’s Eielson Branch, allowing both the Army and Air Force to move equipment and assets on the rail system.
The $17 million would help restore and bring the bridge up to modern standards while shortening its length.
“With this announcement, we are advancing projects so large, complex, and ambitious that they could not get funded under the infrastructure programs that existed prior to the Biden administration,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in the news release.
Meghan Clemens, Alaska Railroad’s director of external affairs, said the bridge was built in the 1950s and has been on its list of capital improvements for years.
“We’re very pleased with this grant being awarded,” Clemens said Thursday. “We’ve been doing significant repairs to keep it safe and up to operational standards, but it became clear that replacing it would become necessary.”
The federal grant requires a 40% match, or $10.2 million, something the rail system factored into its capital budget plan.
Clemens said the bridge project will cost about $28.5 million, based on engineers’ estimates. The Railroad anticipates putting out bid requests for the design by this spring, followed by a construction contract bid in late 2025 or early 2026.
The military has long used the rail to help transport large pieces of equipment and cargo from the Interior. A key example was shipping out the Army’s Stryker armored fighting vehicles in 2022 as the U.S. Army Alaska transitioned into becoming the 11th Airborne Division.
“This link is critical to the military installation and allows us to support the military in transporting equipment to the main rail line as well to our ports in Seward and Whittier,” Clemens said.