Since May 16, cranes, barges and heavy equipment have been busy at the toe of the Kenai River bluff installing the stone berm that is intended to halt erosion. The wall has already taken shape over a broad swath of the affected area, but on Wednesday morning, another barge of rocks from Sand Point arrived and heavy machinery could be seen offloading the material for continued construction.
Kenai City Manager Terry Eubank said during a July 2 city council meeting that the crews were around a third of the way done with construction.
“That project is currently still on schedule for completion this year,” he said.
The project has been modified slightly since it began work in May. Eubank said the Army Corps of Engineers, who are directing the project, and Western Marine Construction, the contractor doing the work of building the wall, became concerned about the safety of workers in some parts of the project area. Specifically, there were concerns about continued erosion — material potentially falling down the bluff onto workers.
To get around that, Eubank said the builders had chosen to pull the berm slightly further from the bluff’s toe in those areas.
Members of Kenai’s city council in June said they were excited to see work underway on the project — which has been a priority of the city for decades.
Kenai’s public works department posts project updates at kenai.city/publicworks.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
Armor rock from Sand Point is offloaded from a barge in the Kenai River in Kenai, Alaska, part of ongoing construction efforts for the Kenai River Bluff Stabilization Project on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Armor rock from Sand Point is offloaded from a barge in the Kenai River in Kenai, Alaska, part of ongoing construction efforts for the Kenai River Bluff Stabilization Project on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Armor rock from Sand Point is offloaded from a barge in the Kenai River in Kenai, Alaska, part of ongoing construction efforts for the Kenai River Bluff Stabilization Project on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
