City, DOT work to repair storm damage to Spit road

The City of Homer and Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities are working to repair significant damage to the southbound lane of Homer Spit Road and return it to a two-lane road following a storm event that occurred Saturday afternoon.

On Nov. 16 at approximately 2 p.m., the Spit encountered a 23-foot high tide and sustained westerly winds at a speed of about 25 knots, or more than 28 mph, which according to Harbormaster Matt Clarke brought an average 6-foot sea height and a “pretty significant” storm surge behind it.

“It started with waves washing over the Spit Road, and as the tide peaked, it was strong enough wave activity to lift rocks and debris and cast it out across the road,” he said. “It also washed and scoured and undercut the portions of the highway that are not protected by armor stone, and washed out the asphalt.”

Damage also occurred to sections of the road that are protected by armor rock, where seawater forced its way through the rock and scoured out compacted material underneath the asphalt.

The impacted area includes nearly a mile of the highway’s southbound lane, from the Kevin Bell Arena to the Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon. Across from the Heritage RV Park, where the Oct. 16 storm event brought erosion to within 2 feet of the edge of the pavement, more than half of the southbound lane is now washed out, and the highway is reduced to one lane for road travel.

Clarke said Monday that, while the city is continuing damage assessment and recovery response planning, Homer Spit Road is open for general public access and traffic control measures including signage and speed reduction zones are in place. However, the City of Homer website asks community members, except those with residences or essential businesses, to avoid travel on the Spit so as not to impact contractors working to repair the road and as a heightened safety measure. If people must travel to the Spit, they are advised to observe the traffic controls and lowered speed limits, and encouraged to exercise caution particularly around the areas most affected by erosion.

Homer Mayor Rachel Lord issued a Declaration of Local Emergency on Monday that will remain in effect for a period of seven days, unless ratified by the Homer City Council or terminated earlier, according to a press release issued by the City of Homer.

“The emergency declaration recognizes the magnitude of the damage and the importance of response and recovery efforts for impacted property owners, and the safeguarding of city and state transportation infrastructure and utilities that serve not only Homer, but also communities across Kachemak Bay and region-wide,” Lord said in the release. “The City’s response will require unexpected expenditures of public funds that will exceed the City’s available resources. An emergency declaration is the first step in potentially accessing emergency resources and expediting protective measures for affected areas.”

Other impacts

In addition to the road damage, Saturday’s storm event also impacted several local businesses on the Spit.

Clarke specifically named the city-owned West Side Tent Camping Area located across from the Fishing Hole Campground; the Glacier D restaurant; the Tackle Shack Company; and the Kachemak Shellfish Growers Co-op and Broken Oar Oyster Bar, which are housed in the same building, as the four businesses which were most adversely impacted by Saturday’s wave activity.

He said that the waves were “crashing onto” the buildings and ripped apart portions of decking, opened sections of the buildings and exposed the interiors to flooding, scoured the parking lots and broke access to front porches as well as access points through the parking lot. The aftermath also revealed evidence of pile degradation, though it’s unclear at this time whether the pile caps or attaching members were damaged to the point of being unsafe.

“It looked like a bomb went off in that section,” he said.

The wave activity also caused utility damage to some of the impacted properties, including severing City of Homer water and sewer connections and exposing gas lines and sections of electrical connections and transformers.

Further south on the Spit, the parking lot for the Ocean Shores boardwalk was also significantly impacted, though the boardwalk itself — which sits at a higher elevation and was recently reinforced with steel pile — appears to have endured “minimal damage.”

Clarke also noted that state and federal interests, in addition to local interests, are impacted by the erosion and road damage.

“We have the Coast Guard, we have the Alaska Marine Highway System, we have our south peninsula source of fuel, which is landed at the ferry terminal and stored at the Petro Marine tank farm at the end of the Spit by Land’s End — that’s a very critical source of fuel for our community,” he said.

He also referenced other “connection points” beyond the Spit — including Seldovia, Kodiak, English Bay, Port Graham, and other connected rural Alaska Native communities — that use Homer’s port and harbor or the ferry system for transportation of goods, services and people.

“If there’s access that is disrupted by a highway failure, it’s not just Homer’s economy and community that suffers, it’s actually those communities beyond Homer that are served through the highway connection points and the port facility,” Clarke said.

Road work and repairs

In addition to the debris sweeping and traffic control measures that were a combined effort between DOT&PF, Homer’s Public Works Department and Homer’s Port and Harbor, DOT has also been mobilized for road repair. An emergency operations center meeting was held at the Homer Volunteer Fire Department on Monday morning between Homer’s city manager, mayor, city department heads, DOT&PF, and Quality Asphalt Paving.

QAP will be mobilized by DOT&PF to begin temporary restoration efforts of the affected areas of the highway. Dibble Creek Rock Ltd will also be bringing in armor rock and other materials from the Seldovia Quarry for use in the road restoration.

Clarke said that the immediate goal is to get the road “patched up and shored up for the winter.”

Justin Shelby, DOT&PF Central Region administrative operations manager, said that DOT&PF currently anticipates being able to keep the single lane open while highway repairs are being conducted, and they’re hoping to restore Homer Spit Road to two lanes this week.

“It is dependent on conditions,” he said.

Updates on the Homer Spit erosion response can be found on the City of Homer website at www.cityofhomer-ak.gov/ or on social media, @cityofhomerak.