The Port of Nome Modification Project has won $11.25 million in new federal money for the local pieces of the project: docks, roads and utilities.
The award comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Port Infrastructure Development Program. Alaska's congressional delegation announced it Oct. 26 as part of nearly $105 million for six port projects around the state. According to the delegation, the money will support local infrastructure tied to the expansion and strengthen maritime access, commerce, emergency response and national security.
Joy Baker is the City of Nome's project manager for the port expansion.She said the grant covers the city's cost for local features, but not the federal features that are the responsibility of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
"These funds cannot be used as match on the federal features known as breakwaters and dredging, but the $11.25M can be used for the local features," Baker said.
The delegation's announcement said $250 million has already been secured for Nome's Arctic deep-draft port.
Nome's award was the fourth-largest of the six in Alaska. The biggest, $50.6 million, went to replace Whittier's DeLong Dock. Kodiak, Anchorage, Kake and Unalaska also received grant funding.
Where construction stands
Kiewit, the contractor on the project's first phase, known as Phase 1A, is extending Nome's breakwater and building new sheet-pile docks out to about 1,200 feet. The company is housing workers in a camp of about 180 beds near the Richard Foster Building. Baker said Kiewit hopes to finish Phase 1A in fall 2028, weather and breakdowns permitting, and close out the work in spring 2029.
The next big step, Phase 2, will dredge to deepen the existing outer harbor as well as the new deep-water basin. According to the federal contracting database, SAM.gov, Phase 2 is expected to be released for bidding around Nov. 17. The pre-solicitation notice estimates the cost of the phase between $25 million and $100 million.
Baker estimates the full expansion will be finished sometime between 2030 and 2032.
Why it matters beyond Nome
Supporters of the project say its importance reaches well past Nome. The U.S. has no deep-water port in the Arctic, and Nome is meant to be the first.
"The United States of America does not have a deep-water Arctic port. It's as plain and simple as that," Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, told KNOM during a Nov. 4 visit to Nome. "Nome will be that port."
Murkowski said she has made that case in Washington and at the Pentagon, calling the port a national-security asset. Ship traffic through the Bering Strait is growing, and she is pushing for a larger Coast Guard presence in the region. That presence, she said, depends on infrastructure.
"If you're going to have a Coast Guard presence, you also need to have a place where you can put your ships," she said.
She said that doesn't necessarily mean a military base is coming.
"I would not be suggesting that we would see a military base in Nome in the next five years," Murkowski said, though she expects an expanded federal presence.
Murkowski described the expanded port as "dual use,” saying it would be able to host Arctic security cutters and other military vessels, with the costs shared, while local users keep full use of the harbor.
For now, the port still has depth limits. Baker said the Coast Guard icebreaker Healy can't come in until the deep-water basin is dredged in Phase 2.
Baker described the project as a national-security and regional freight project.
That split is where grants like the October award come in. The federal government covers the federal features through the Corps, and the city has to find money for the local docks, roads and utilities that make those features usable. In announcing the awards, Alaska's delegation tied the port money to maritime security and the U.S. presence in the Arctic.
Read KNOM's full interview with Sen. Murkowski
Next season
Kiewit is close to wrapping up construction for the season, but Baker said crews will continue removing rock from the spur at the end of the causeway until mid-December. Crews are expected back in April to resume placing rock and building a dock. Baker said longer shoulder seasons in recent years have given crews more time to work, but that can't be counted on.
