Ballooning costs and funding setbacks have pushed back the timeline for the replacement project for Kodiak’s largest harbor. Port officials now expect reconstruction of St. Herman Harbor won’t start until 2027 at the earliest.
At least $23 million is needed for the first phase of the project, according to an application submitted to the state by Kodiak’s Harbormaster Dave Johnson. The city anticipates the total project cost for the harbor replacement could be as much as $99 million.
The City of Kodiak has to match roughly 50% of those phase 1 project costs and another $11,250,000 coming from MARAD’s Port Infrastructure Development Program, which is a federal funding source. To help fund the city’s portion, Johnson submitted a harbor facility grant application to the state department of transportation for $5 million in August.
During last week’s Ports and Harbor advisory board meeting on Sept. 24, Johnson said it’s now wait and see for that state grant and some additional federal funding potentially being included in Congress’s yet to be passed budget.
“Senator [Lisa] Murkowski’s congressionally directed spending was not included in the final Senate version. Congressman [Nick] Begich’s $5 million that he requested is still in the budget," Johnson explained. "If it goes through or not, we still don’t know.”
The state funding likely wouldn’t be awarded until fiscal year 2027, but if Kodiak gets both pots of money, then that would account for an additional $10 million and essentially cover the city’s portion towards the harbor project.
Also in his fall Harbormaster’s update, Johnson noted that all of the environmental permits for the St. Herman Harbor project have been submitted. He said the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has already approved the first permit but federal permits are still pending.
“It’s just a lot of federal bureaucracy stuff we have to navigate. But it shouldn’t slow the permitting down any," he said. "And you know a lot of vacancies at the federal level are slowing down all permits right now, but everything’s still tracking.”
At this point, Johnson said he anticipates construction will begin in the summer of 2027.
