KENAI, AK — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Alaska District placed the first rock at the Kenai River Bluffs Erosion Project. After more than a decade of planning and collaboration between USACE, the City of Kenai, and other stakeholders, this milestone marks the beginning of construction for a new coastal revetment to preserve infrastructure and improve public safety in the community.
The revetment is designed to shield the lower portion of the bluff from storm damage and stabilize erosion along the newly protected shoreline. The construction effort will require 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 for a total of 50,770 cubic yards of material. 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.
In 2019, USACE published the Kenai Bluffs Bank Stabilization Section 116 Feasibility Study that recommended the establishment of 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 3 feet per year. The berm will stretch about 5,000 feet long along the base of the eroding bluff.
Section 8315 of the Water Resources Development Act 2022 provides USACE with the authority to carry out structural and non-structural projects for coastal and riverine erosion, storm damage prevention, and reduction, as well as ice and glacial damage in Alaska.
