Anchor River floods again

Flooding occurred once more in the Anchor River State Recreation Area on Monday. An ice dam caused water from the river to wash over the abutting campgrounds and across Anchor Point Road, up to a depth of 18 inches.

The Alaska Department of Transportation closed Anchor Point Road on Monday because of the overreaching water. The closure was lifted Tuesday morning, after the water had receded to a depth of approximately 3-4 inches, said Justin Shelby, administrative operations manager for the Alaska DOT Central Region.

“The ice dam did release,” Shelby said Tuesday afternoon. “We are continuing to monitor that, but (the water) is going down at this point.

This is at least the second flood incident. An ice dam previously caused the Anchor River to flood Anchor Point Road on Dec. 10.

“This flooding is certainly the worst that we’ve seen in recent history,” Shelby said. “We typically don’t see flooding anywhere near the amount that we’ve gotten this year.”

Shelby said that DOT is currently in the design phase for a pavement preservation project for Anchor Point Road. This project, which is currently set to be implemented in 2026 or 2027, should address the perennial flooding issue and condition of the pavement of the state-owned road. However, DOT’s focus lies on maintaining the road infrastructure; impacts to other areas of the park including the campgrounds would likely need to be investigated and addressed by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation, which oversees the Anchor River State Recreation Area.

Shelby also noted that water incursion on the road is likely to cause potholes.

“We are aware of those and are addressing those as we are able to,” he said.

While DOT will continue monitoring the condition of Anchor Point Road, community members are also welcome to report potholes to dot.potholes@alaska.gov.