Anchorage Sport Fish Hatchery

Anchorage, Alaska

The Sport Fish Hatchery project is a 141,000 SF facility that contains over 100 fish rearing tanks and over three miles of welded high density polyethylene. The Hatchery is also controlled through a fiber optic loop, with miles of process water, power, and control conductors under the concrete slab.

The Hatchery site was a cooling pond for a decommissioned power plant that required mass excavation of deep sheet pile. Multiple dewatering wells were required for excavations deeper than six feet on the entire north and west areas of the site. Ground thawing was required for some of the process piping on the north side, as well as for some process and force discharge lines on the east side. Careful sequencing was required to maximize construction through the winter seasons.

Extensive coordination was required because of environmental risks due to the nature of the site. The site contained POL contaminated soils and was located directly adjacent to a salmon spawning creek. There was a high level of coordination with various agencies including ADEC, JBER, ADF&G and ADOT&PF as well as the local biologists from the Alaska Fisheries. The team knew they were going to have to handle fuel contaminated soil, but the quantities and locations were unknown. Kiewit’s hazard mitigation plan was used to maximize the site use accordingly.