By Sentinel Staff
The city and the state Department of Transportation have invited the public to attend a “scoping meeting” on Sitka Seawalk Phase II from 6:30 to 8 p.m. tonight at Harrigan Centennial Hall.
The project calls for extending the seawalk to the O’Connell Bridge lightering facility and on to Totem Square.
The project was announced by the Alaska Department of Transportation, working in coordination with the city and with support of the National Park Service.
The goal is to improve accessibility to Sitka National Historical Park and downtown Sitka by building a seawalk.
“The Sitka Seawalk Phase II project would also function as a way-finding system and guide for visitor traffic and simultaneously provide opportunities for exercise and recreation,” the city project description says.
The total cost of the project is $5.4 million with most funded by the Federal Lands Access Program and Transportation Alternatives Program. The city’s required match is 9.03 percent, and the city can use its commercial passenger vessel excise tax toward the match, city staff said.
Comments on the project will be taken through December 30, and the project website is at cityofsitka.com/SitkaSeawalkPhaseII, including a description of the project, and map of the extension. Scoping comments can be sent to surveymonkey.com/r/M5DSDY6.
Phase I of the seawalk was completed in 2013 and runs from the Sitka National Historical Park to and around Harrigan Centennial Hall, and ending at the Harbor Drive end of Sitka Public Library.
Phase II would continue the seawalk from the Sitka Public Library to the O’Connell Bridge lightering facility and on to Totem Square and Lincoln Street. The intent is to maintain the “look and feel” of Phase I and improve ADA accessibility of existing facilities, the city said in its description.
Phase II is broken down into three sections. Section 1 goes from the library to the water side of Harbor Drive, across from the entrance to the Harbor Drive extension. Section 2 runs from there to the O’Connell lightering facility, and section 3 crosses the street and follows the sidewalk to city hall and Totem Square.
The description says Sections 1 and 3 include improvements along existing sidewalks. Section 2 includes a new pedestrian pathway on top of a new riprap-armored embankment extending around the south side of the O’Connell Bridge/Harbor Drive approach to the O’Connell lightering facility.
