Spur Highway widening underway

A four-year Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities project to widen the Kenai Spur Highway between Kenai and Soldotna is underway now with clearing and grubbing.

Drivers on the Kenai Spur Highway between Eagle Rock Drive and Swires Road might notice workers — from Wasilla-based Wolverine Supply and its subcontractors — hydro-axing trees and moving brush alongside the road. This summer the workers will also move utility lines above and below ground away from the road, install some culverts, and cover some marshy roadside areas with dirt to compress the ground and allow it to settle over the winter before next summer’s work: surfacing and paving that section of highway to widen it from its present two lanes to five.

The following year a similar process will begin for the rest of the Spur Highway to Soldotna — clearing and utility relocation in summer 2020, followed by repaving and lane expansion in summer 2021.

Speaking at a Tuesday evening open house on the project at the Kenai Eagles building, DOT Project Manager Sean Holland said the expanded highway is meant to handle the traffic his agency projects between Kenai and Soldotna for the next 20 years. The new highway will have two lanes in either direction plus a turn lane in the center, which Holland said is an important new safety feature.

“The left-hand turn lane is the big addition to the facilities,” Holland said. “We see a higher-than-average accident rate through here, due largely to left-hand turns. People stop to make a left-hand turn and get hit from the rear. So the turn lane is going to going take those cars out of the traffic flow and should decrease that.”

For the first phase of the project — expanding the highway between Eagle Rock Drive and Swires Road in 2018 and 2019 — Holland said all the property to be used is inside the state’s existing right of way for the road, with the exception of a few driveways that DOT is shifting from the highway to nearby side roads. For the second phase in 2020 and 2021, DOT will have to buy pieces of six or seven properties, whose owners have all been notified, Holland said.

Holland said traffic control plans for next year’s paving haven’t been decided.

“There’s going to be disruption for sure, but we’re going to have enough room to move traffic back and forth and hopeful minimize that,” Holland said.

Reach Ben Boettger at bboettger@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

Vice President Kelly Cooper speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Borough considers seasonal sales tax rate

Borough sales tax would be modified from a flat 3% to a seasonal model of 4% in summer months and 2% in winter months.

The Kasilof River is seen from the Kasilof River Recreation Area, July 30, 2019, in Kasilof, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
King salmon fishing on Kasilof closes Thursday

If any king salmon is caught while fishing for other species, they may not be removed from the water and must be released immediately.

Un’a, a female sea otter pup who was admitted to the Alaska SeaLife Center in June 2025, plays with an enrichment toy at the center in Seward, Alaska. Photo courtesy of the Alaska SeaLife Center
SeaLife Center admits 2 seal pups, 1 orphaned otter

The three pups join the Alaska SeaLife Center’s ‘growing’ patient list.

James Wardlow demonstrates flilleting a salmon with an ulu during a smoked salmon demonstration, part of Fish Week 2023, on Wednesday, July 19, 2023, at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Refuge to celebrate all things fish during weeklong event

Fish Week will take place July 16-19.

President Zen Kelly speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, July 7, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
School board finalizes budget with deep cuts to programming, classrooms

Multiple members of the board said they were frustrated by the state’s failure to fund education.

Former KPBSD Finance Director Liz Hayes speaks during a Kenai Peninsula Borough School District budget development meeting at Kenai Central High School in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
School district finance department earns national awards

The two awards are based on comprehensive reviews of the district’s budget and financial reporting.

Children leap forward to grab candy during a Fourth of July parade on South Willow Street in Kenai, Alaska, on July 4, 2025. (Photo courtesy Sarah Every)
Celebrating the 4th in the streets

Kenai comes out for annual Independence Day parade.

Fire crews respond to the Bruce Fire, July 4, 2025, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Alaska Division of Forestry)
Firefighting crews respond to wildfire outside Soldotna

The 8-acre fire and two “spot fires” of less than one acre each are located near Mile 102 and 103 of the Sterling Highway.

Most Read