dequate roads and safe public facilities such as schools are a must, as far as publicly funded projects go, but many would argue that recreational facilities are vital as well. In fact, voters in various municipalities have often chosen to pay a slightly increased property tax rate for the opportunity to have inviting places to access the outdoors.

A lot of park-related projects are happening in Anchorage and around the state right now, from new bike and skate parks in Anchorage to a significant bluff erosion measure that will result in improved fishing access in Kenai.

Bike parks in Anchorage deliver a range of advantages, significantly enriching the city’s recreational framework and supporting community health. These facilities offer designated environments for mountain biking, facilitating physical activity and skill development across all age groups and proficiency levels. Additionally, the parks function as focal points for community engagement, promoting social interaction and contributing to a dynamic, active lifestyle. Moreover, they have the potential to attract tourism and stimulate the local economy by giving sports enthusiasts new opportunities to explore and challenge themselves. Fortunately, the city of Anchorage supports the parks and works with local organizations to fund new trails.

The Anchorage Parks and Recreation Department is currently updating the Recreational Trails Plan and gathering public feedback through community workshops, surveys, and interactive maps, enabling stakeholders to contribute to the future development of local trails.

“Capital improvements are generally funded through municipal bonds. We have a capital improvement program that evaluates community needs from all the community councils in Anchorage every year or every few years,” explains Nicolette Dent, park planner at the Municipality of Anchorage. “The community council ranks projects that are most important to them, and that helps us put together a funding program. Each year we propose something to the administration and then it usually goes through a little bit of back-and-forth in discussions. Occasionally the administration will add projects or take out projects depending on priorities.”

The Anchorage Parks Department typically has numerous projects in various stages of development. “It varies based on funding and what’s going on, but we are usually quite busy. We usually have so many projects that we can’t get everything we want to get through. There’s never a shortage of things for us to work on,” says Dent. Two current projects, out of several the department is working on, are the Service Singletrack Trail project at Hillside Park and bridge and trail improvements along the multi-use Campbell Creek Trail. Both are nearing completion.

Currently, Singletrack Advocates, or STA, in partnership with Anchorage Parks and Recreation, is building new singletrack trails between Service High School and Hilltop Ski Area. STA is dedicated to working with the community to preserve, maintain, and expand singletrack trails throughout Anchorage. Since its founding in 2004, STA has developed more than 35 miles of singletrack in Kincaid Park, Hillside Park, and Chugach State Park. The organization oversees fundraising initiatives and coordinates volunteer activities to construct and sustain these trails, aiming to improve connectivity, provide skill-building opportunities for youth, and reduce congestion in Hillside Park.

“Service High School, Abbott Road, and the Hilltop ski area serve as trail access points. The trail is really popular, and this new series of loops spans about five and a half miles, featuring beginner and intermediate flow trails with some downhill jump lines and some more challenging options for riders,” says Dent. “Working with STA, we decided to make a series of loops in one direction so it provides a better experience for everyone. Mountain bikers won’t have to worry as much about passing or encountering someone in their path. They can focus on riding safely and avoiding wildlife encounters.”

Designed exclusively for bikers, the trails display signs noting that hiking is not recommended.

“What’s really cool about this project is, it’s like this cool progressive system where you can choose your own adventure. You can avoid the more challenging features, but as you get more comfortable, you might decide to try them out,” notes Dent. “The trail also provides a beginner area for kids to explore as they build their biking skills.”

Frequently used by both local residents and visitors, the Campbell Creek Trail follows the course of Campbell Creek for 7.4 miles, extending from Northwood Drive at West Dimond Boulevard northeast to Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. The trail winds through the city and is ideal for biking and walking. The route passes busy commercial areas, community parks, and neighborhoods. The multi-use greenbelt trail serves as a safe access route for individuals throughout much of the Anchorage Bowl and Campbell Creek watershed.

The Campbell Creek watershed represents a valuable natural resource, offering extensive recreational activities, fishing opportunities, inherent flood control benefits, salmon viewing, and high-quality habitat for aquatic and terrestrial wildlife. The Campbell Creek Trail is included in Anchorage’s Moose Loop route, linking the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, Lanie Fleischer Chester Creek Trail, and Ship Creek Trail to create a 32-mile loop that outlines the shape of a moose across the Anchorage Bowl.

Due to its popularity, the Campbell Creek Trail has undergone considerable wear over time, making a series of improvements necessary. Neeser Construction, Inc. is currently working on the fifth and final stage of this project.

“The Campbell Creek bridge replacement and trail reroute project went through several phases. As a major thoroughfare, it needed a lot of love. Creeks all over town are changing water levels and, as a result, we are seeing increased erosion events. For Campbell Creek, we had to realign the trail for the new bridge,” Dent explains. “The former wooden bridge was replaced with a 70-foot steel bridge and the contractors added quite a bit of riprap under the new bridge to shore it up against the creek’s changing directions and the water flow. The contractor also raised the height of the new bridge to accommodate flooding.”

After more than a decade of planning and collaboration between the US Army Corps of Engineers, or USACE, Alaska District, the City of Kenai, and other stakeholders, the USACE–Alaska District placed the first rock at the Kenai River Bluffs Erosion Project on May 18. The milestone marked the start of construction for a new coastal revetment to preserve infrastructure and improve public safety in the community.

In 2019, USACE published a Kenai Bluffs Bank Stabilization Section feasibility study that recommended building a protective berm at the bluff toe. The height of the bluffs range between 55 and 70 feet, while the face is receding at a rate of about three feet per year. The project has been the top capital priority for the City of Kenai for decades, as continued erosion threatens homes and businesses that line the bluff.

In September 2023, representatives from USACE and the City of Kenai formally executed the “Project Partnership Agreement” at a ceremony attended by Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael Connor and Governor Mike Dunleavy. This agreement facilitated continued progress on the project. In February 2024, the USACE–Alaska District awarded Western Marine Construction of Seattle the construction contract.

Western Marine is building a protective rock berm roughly a mile long, running from the mouth of the Kenai River nearly to the city dock, along the north bank of the Kenai River. The revetment is designed to shield the lower portion of the bluff from storm damage and stabilize erosion along the newly protected shoreline. When construction is complete, the stones at the toe of the bluff should prevent tides and river currents from taking the bank material, allowing the upper slope to transform over the next 15 years from a steep and barren bluff to a stable and vegetated riverbank.

The construction effort requires the placement of about 33,880 cubic yards of armor rock, 4,500 cubic yards of crushed rock, and 12,380 cubic yards of gravel base. The federal government is funding 90 percent of the $19 million project’s cost share under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, with the City of Kenai responsible for the remaining 10 percent.

The project has meant additional river traffic, including loaded rock barges traveling to the site, offloading for several days, and being swapped with a freshly loaded barge. The City of Kenai has kept river users informed of updates on its Public Works project page, posting regular announcements of when barges are scheduled to travel to and from the project site. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is also communicating information it receives about the project such as barge movements in Cook Inlet on daily announcements.

“This project is an example of our commitment to working alongside our partners and stakeholders to find engineering solutions to coastal erosion problems in Alaska,” says Colonel Jeffrey Palazzini, USACE–Alaska District commander. “Together, we will build innovative, climate-resilient infrastructure that will protect communities and ecosystems for many years to come.”

The project is expected to be complete by February 2026.