The Homer City Council passed a resolution Monday, March 10, supporting the addition of an erosion mitigation study for Homer Spit Road to the 2024-2027 State Transportation Improvement Program.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities recently released a draft of the STIP Amendment 2 including Project #34708, which will “collect needed data and evaluate erosion mitigation measures needed” to protect the Sterling Highway along the Homer Spit. The State has also programmed $800,000 for the mitigation study.

“We are pleased to see this project funding come forward from ADOT/PF and are encouraged by our recent discussions about partnering on developing the scope of the planning project and possibly execution of the planning and design activities,” City of Homer Special Projects and Communications Coordinator Jenny Carroll wrote in a Feb. 27 memorandum.

Carroll further stated that the programmed funding will support activities including data collection, analysis and preliminary design concepts to inform Homer Spit Road protection measures, which will “ideally” integrate with and accelerate a future federal feasibility study.

“These early activities establish the groundwork whether conducted under the reauthorization of the Homer Spit Revetment General Investigation (which typically faces lengthy federal startup timelines) or conducted independently to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers federal standards, ensuring a head start on this critical protection work while the federal process advances,” she wrote.

The City of Homer has been advocating for Homer Spit erosion planning and implementation with state and federal partners for several years. Most recently, following the severe winter storm damage that occurred on the Spit in November and December, the council passed two resolutions calling for DOT and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take action regarding comprehensive long-term erosion mitigation and maintenance plans.

In the resolution, council further encouraged the continuation of the partnership between the City and DOT “to submit a FY24-26 Federal PROTECT grant for additional funds to further work on the project and produce a federally-compliant feasibility study, or further work during what could be a lengthy federal startup timeline for reauthorized work on the Homer Spit Revetment General Investigation.”

Resolution 25-020 was passed as part of the consent agenda on March 10; no discussion on the resolution was held among the council members.

Find the resolution and memorandum in full at www.cityofhomer-ak.gov/citycouncil/city-council-regular-meeting-339.