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Homer Spit Coastal Erosion Mitigation
Erosional damage on the Homer Spit is undermining the portion of the Sterling Hwy that connects the Kenai Peninsula mainland to organizations like the United States Coast Guard and the Alaska Marine Highway and will ultimately, if left unchecked, diminish the role the Homer Spit plays as a regional commerce center and transportation hub for Southcentral Alaska.
There are also over one hundred private businesses that depend on the Sterling Highway as their gateway to conduct business, as well as vital City infrastructure needed to support the marine trades and cargo shipping services. Coastal erosion is destroying properties housing commercial businesses, recreational and camping sites and utilities.
The City of Homer has been working for many years with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) in a cooperative effort to develop and implement a long term maintenance plan to mitigate and stabilize erosion conditions on the Homer Spit.
Attachments to this page provides an overview of erosion conditions on the Homer Spit, including specific condition photos. The USACE has conducted two extensive studies with detailed erosion management information on this specific area: the 2017 USACE Dredged Material Management Guidance Manual and the 1987 USACE investigation and report titled Storm Damage Reduction Final Interim Feasibility Report with Engineering Design and Environmental Assessment. In 2019, HDR, Inc. completed a technical memo summarizing erosional conditions and providing mitigation recommendations.
Future work on this project will utilize this information and data to help the group formulate a long-term plan for maintaining the Homer Spit and improving resilience of the the Spit's transportation infrastructure of local, regional and national importance. Beginning this project is timely.
With the data from these studies we believe that a cooperative team, comprised of the USACE, DOT&PF and City of Homer, will be able to produce an action plan to be implemented that will have long term solutions to the erosion challenges on the Homer Spit. This overview is published to facilitate the protection of our critical transportation infrastructure.
Public comment is welcome.
