Spotty and sometimes nonexistent cell phone service is a familiar nuisance for anyone traveling between the Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage. But in some cases, it’s also a matter of public safety.
That’s why the Kenai Peninsula Borough has sought for years to expand cell phone coverage along parts of the Seward Highway. Now, that project is on track to happen. That’s after the borough assembly agreed last month to help pay to put up a communications tower at the top of Turnagain Pass.
The federal government is footing the bill for most of the project – a little over $2 million. But the borough’s on the hook for the remaining quarter – almost $700,000. To pay that, the borough will use money it received through the federal American Rescue Plan Act in 2022. In all, the borough received around $12 million through the post-COVID-19 pandemic stimulus bill.
Borough Mayor Peter Micciche says the hope is that the tower will be the first of multiple. He says the goal is to boost travel safety along that section of the highway by making it possible to place calls from the road.
“Part of the effort is to identify areas where we can cover the most ground, or at least a closer place for someone to get to when there’s been an accident on the highway and medical attention is required,” he said.
He says efforts to bolster communication along that section of the highway have been years in the making. The project has topped the borough’s project wishlist in recent years. But absent state funding, Micciche says they turned to the federal government.
Ben Hanson is the borough’s director of information technology. He says they’re eyeing the rest stops at the top of Turnagain Pass as the first tower site. He says the location is strategic.
“That seems like our best opportunity to split distance as far as the dead zones that are still there,” he said. “And we're pretty sure that the single installation can – our hope is that a single installation can cover that full three- or four-mile stretch, at least get some signal along there.”
The next step is a feasibility study to determine the best project configuration. Focus areas will include road access to the tower site and the type of communication services to be provided, among other things.
Micciche’s office said Monday they don’t yet know when the tower will be built.
