Work is underway this month to replace a culvert and fix the dirt and rock filled yard at the Petersburg borough’s public works department.
The project is repairing damage from torrential rainfall during a December 2020 storm that resulted in a disaster declaration for part of the region and a fatal landslide in the Lynn Canal community of Haines. It’s being paid for with funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Petersburg borough is contracting with local company Reid Brothers Logging and Construction for the repairs. The company is replacing an existing five-foot culvert with one that is ten feet in diameter and 210 feet long. That’s being assembled on site. And they’re digging out a mix of rock, soil and garbage that was the foundation for the yard for decades.
Joe Viechnicki spoke with the borough’s public works director Chris Cotta on the site Wednesday about the work.
The initial contract amount was $568,605. Cotta expects that number to grow because of the amount of excavation and soil removal. The culvert is for a creek that empties into Hammer Slough draining from the muskeg near the airport runway. The state has documented coho and pink salmon along with Dolly Varden in that creek.
