New floating and anchoring systems within the Wrangell Harbor Basin in Southeast Alaska will be funded through a $25 million grant from the federal Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program.
The grant, announced June 26 by U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, is one of 148 projects nationwide to make transportation infrastructure more resilient to extreme weather and improve supply chains to keep costs down for consumers.
The project will fund planning, design and construction of floating and anchoring systems within the Wrangell Harbor Basin. The project will also construct water, electrical and fire suppression systems and relocate inner harbor parking.
Transportation officials said that once complete, the project will resolve major safety issues such as the deteriorating condition of the basin and transform the aging infrastructure that has exceeded its useful life.
The project would also reduce the idling of vessels and reduce transportation related air pollution; remove deteriorating in-water infrastructure which affects marine aquatic life and improve access and connectivity to daily destinations and expand transportation choices with improvements to local water taxis and freight transporters, officials said.