Cooper Landing Bypass

Alaska’s four-year statewide transportation plan has received partial approval from federal agencies, with some exclusions. Most major Kenai Peninsula highway projects, including the Cooper Landing Bypass, haven’t been affected, but the state is still waiting to hear about outside funding that will affect the timeline of that project.

Residents of Cooper Landing protested the lease of a one-acre parcel to a company that will batch concrete for the Cooper Landing Bypass project. After the Borough Assembly approved the lease, residents called on the mayor to veto it, but he declined to do so on Tuesday, saying he'd meet with residents to discuss safety.

A Homer-based nonprofit that works with landowners and state agencies to protect land on the Kenai Peninsula recently completed mitigation efforts on the Cooper Landing Bypass project. The multi-step mitigation plan identified, assessed and protected areas of the Kenai River watershed that would otherwise be impacted by highway construction.

A company will use the site to batch concrete for the Cooper Landing bypass and Juneau Creek Bridge projects, but nearby residents say they're concerned about the safety of trucks accessing the site, which is located on a rural road near Cooper Landing Emergency Services.

DOT Commissioner Ryan Anderson told senators the department is removing or changing expensive projects from the plan before the March 1 deadline from federal agencies. That list of changes isn't yet public.

The federal government rejected Alaska DOT's four-year statewide transportation plan, citing major and minor errors. The Cooper Landing bypass project isn't among them, but like all road projects in the state, could be jeopardized if DOT isn't able to get its plan approved.

This summer, Kenaitze Tribe officials say archaeologists and cultural observers found stone tools, animal bones and the impressions of homes along the path of the Sterling Highway bypass project.

Fellow hikers assist man stuck in ravine along popular Cooper Landing trail

The Alaska Department of Transportation says it will have to seek outside funding sources to make up for dramatically increased cost estimates for the bypass project.

The Cooper Landing Bypass project manager says a lack of full funding in this year’s legislative budget could mean delays in the major highway project.