A fast break-up this year is causing further delays through the well-travelled Sterling Highway corridor south of Soldotna. Originally scheduled to be closed for a week, the detour — which forces drivers to take Kalifornsky Beach Road — will be extended a second week.
“You know we've had some unusually warm weather over the last week and our construction crew has been having to deal with really high volumes of melt water and that is slowing them down,” said Shannon McCarthy, a DOT spokeswoman in Anchorage. “So we are going to have to keep the highway closed for an additional week. We're targeting reopening it on April 22 on Monday morning, April 22.”
But since the road closed to through-traffic Friday night, McCarthy said the detour has not been too disruptive.
“I thinkjust getting folks updated, that initial shock of you know, having to change,” she said. “Their commute was you know, a little bit, there’s a little bit of adjustment time there but I think everyone is working well on that on that detour.”
The project, just north of Kasilof, will result in four new culverts and widened shoulders.
