The Kodiak Short Trail, the replacement of Sargent Creek Bridge, and improvements to Chiniak Highway and Pasagshak Road are all on an Alaska Department of Transportation draft plan for 2027-2030. And the agency has opened up a public comment period for people to give input.
The plan, called the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, sets aside $2.57 million for designing the Kodiak Short Trail. The idea is to build a bike and walking path spanning roughly ten miles, from Pier 2 in the city south to Bells Flats.
Natura Richardson is the executive director for the Island Trails Network, and has done a lot of the work to get the short trail off the ground. She said the project would make travel safer for bikers and walkers in Kodiak, who currently have to recreate on the shoulder of the main road, a 55 mph highway.
“We have had two deaths on that highway of non-motorized transportation," Richardson said. "One was a cyclist and one was a walker."
The short trail would also include connector paths so bikers and pedestrians alike can access places like the Coast Guard Base and Buskin River State Park.
"Let's pretend you're a Coast Guard family and you live in Nemetz. You cannot send your child to go play with their friend who lives on base without crossing a highway," Richardson said. "That physical connection leads to better mental and social and emotional connections throughout the community."
The project would also open up a space for people to safely view bears on foot in the Bells Flats area, instead of parking and walking on the side of the highway.
Richardson said the idea for the short trail has been kicking around Kodiak for more than a decade, but they started making real headway last October, when the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Transportation Ryan Anderson came to visit.
"And we had many, many members of the public go along the route of the Short Trail, holding signs saying Kodiak wants the short trail, we love bicycles or whatnot, and it grabbed the eye of the commissioner," Richardson said.
Richardson said progress has still been slow with the state, but she hopes public input during the comment period will give the Kodiak Short Trail another push and get it put on the final plan.
As for the other projects on the list, replacing the Sargent Creek Bridge has been on the borough’s radar since at least 2024. According to DOT contractors who surveyed Sargent Creek and Russian River bridges, both have cracks in their structural supports and are narrower than the road itself; making them both good candidates for being replaced. The area around Sargent Creek Bridge has also flooded several times over the past few years. The department has set aside around $6.7 million in the draft plan for the Sargent Creek Bridge, with $6 million of that to be awarded in 2029 specifically.
There are also several different sections of the Chiniak highway resurfacing project in the plan. That includes milepost 19 to 22 in the Middle Bay area, milepost 22 to 25, and milepost 25 to 31 on the west side of Kalsin Bay. Funding for these repairs is spread out across the next four years, with the first pot of nearly $12 million slated to come for the milepost 25-31 area next year. Kodiak residents had previously expressed concern about the potholes and other bad conditions on this stretch of the highway.
Lastly, there’s more than $8 million set aside in the draft plan for resurfacing the entirety of Pasagshak Road, from the intersection at the Chiniak highway all the way to the end of the road at the spaceport near Narrow Cape. $5 million of that would arrive next year, and another $3 million would come in 2029 according to DOT.
The public can submit comments on any of these Kodiak projects by going to the Department of Transportation’s online portal, or by emailing them at dot.stip@alaska.gov.
Richardson said ITN will also be setting up booths in the marketplace downtown a couple times this month to help people submit their comments on the go.
The comment period closes on October 29.
