Barrier installations for the Mendenhall Glacial Outburst Flood project is 45% complete as of April 29, the Alaska District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says.<\/p>\n
Crews have been working on Phase 2 of the Advance Measures Mendenhall Glacial Outburst Flood project. Last week, they began armoring work at Reach One South.<\/p>\n
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the City and Borough of Juneau and the Forest Service determined that a flood barrier berm north of Reach One was feasible and began planning. Barrier construction will continue at Reaches Three and Six in May.<\/p>\n
The fortified, complete temporary flood barrier needs to be completed prior to July 15. It is a near-term solution to mitigate potential widespread damage from future flooding events.<\/p>\n
Phase 2 is a flood barrier that includes:<\/p>\n
• The continuation of barriers from the end of Phase 1, down river on the east bank through the Brotherhood Bridge <\/p>\n
• The west bank of the river north from Brotherhood bridge, along the Kaxdigoowu Heen Dei (trail) to higher ground above the Wildmeadow Lane neighborhood<\/p>\n
• The west bank from Back Loop Bridge extending downstream through the extents of the River Road neighborhood<\/p>\n
• The east bank from the Back Loop Bridge, extending downstream to connect to the beginning of Phase 1 at the north end of Marion Drive<\/p>\n
On Sept. 19, 2025, the CBJ submitted a scope of work that the United States Army Corps of Engineers accepted to include – but not limited to – the ongoing evaluation, repair, and reinforcement of existing HESCO barriers and barrier sites, paid for with 100% federal funds.<\/p>\n
The Mendenhall River Valley is under imminent threat of “unusual flooding from what scientific experts expect will be recurring and likely record-breaking glacier lake outburst flood events,” according to the project background on the CBJ website.<\/p>\n
“The impact and inundation area of these events have increased each of the last three years; a pattern that puts hundreds of homes and thousands of vulnerable residents, as well as critical infrastructure, public facilities, and community and medical services at risk.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The fortified, complete temporary flood barrier needs to be completed prior to July 15 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3361,"featured_media":132596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1077],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n