Crowley Fuels, the major fuel distributor in Kotzebue, has announced plans to expand their bulkhead dock this summer. The dock sits off Shore Avenue, overlooking the Kotzebue Sound.
Jed Dixon is a project manager with Crowley. He says the current dock has been in place for decades, and has been subject to wear and tear.
“Of course it experiences severe erosion because of the current that runs right past the dock, the ice that hits that point every year and then the westerlies that come in and raise the water level. So it suffers a fair share of abuse,” Dixon said.
Dixon says Crowley started planning the expansion in 2017. The new dock will follow the same shape as the current one, while building over it and expanding out 30 feet. This is done by forming cells with sheet piles and vibrating them into the sea floor. They will then be filled with gravel and paved over.
“That makes it a very strong structure,” Dixon said. “When you have the sheet driven deeply enough into the seafloor, the current’s not going to get under the cell to undermine it.”
Dixon says the project will be in two phases. The first will complete the lion’s share of the project, with a second phase two to three years later to touch up and compact the gravel. He expects the dock to maintain its stability for the next 30 to 40 years.
While Crowley primarily deals with fuel shipments, the dock is used by freight shipping companies as well. Dixon says Alaska Marine Line makes at least two regular deliveries a year to the dock, as do several other periodic shippers. Dixon says that those shipments shouldn’t be interrupted by the construction.
“We can’t just shut the dock down,” Dixon said. “We have to do this while the… we have to build the road while the traffic is still happening.”
Crowley’s main barge will be on one side of the dock for about half of the construction period, and then move to the other side for the second half. Dixon says this summer’s building phase should wrap up by the end of September.
While construction is happening in Kotzebue, the north and south ends of the dock on Shore Avenue will be closed to the public from July 7 to around September 30. Dixon says the crews will be working from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday, so residents can expect construction noise during those time periods. He also advises parents to keep their children away from the site.
“We really want them to be cool, stay away from the project area, even if no one’s there,” Dixon said. “Especially when no one’s there because it would be hard for us to respond or deal with accidents that might happen.”
Dixon also says there will be observers at three points along the construction site who will make sure that any of the Kotzebue Sound’s marine mammals don’t get caught up in the construction as well.
