The State of Alaska Will Pay You $30K

to move this bridge.

The state of Alaska will pay you $30K to move and maintain this historic bridge

The historic 1930s bridge, left, stands next to a temporary bridge constructed in 2003 over the Iliamna River. (Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)

On a narrow gravel road nearly 200 miles from Anchorage, an 80-year-old bridge spans the Iliamna River. And if you want it, it's all yours.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is offering $30,000 for anyone up for removing and maintaining the historic bridge before construction on a new structure begins in 2018.

"The bridge is in a remote location and is available as-is," the DOT wrote in a public notice announcing the offer.

The 181-foot-long, steel-truss bridge spans the Iliamna River, about 3 miles from Pile Bay, said Ray Williams, owner of Pile Bay Fuel.

As in much of the state, no roads connect the communities on Iliamna Lake to the main highway system. But the 15-mile road connecting Pile Bay to the coastline is a hugely important shortcut for both communities in the region and Bristol Bay.

Fishing vessels come from Homer, crossing Cook Inlet and landing in Williamsport, where they travel along the road to Pile Bay. From Pile Bay, they travel across Iliamna Lake, then down a river that connects to commercial fisheries at Bristol Bay.

With this roughly 320-mile route, boats bypass what would be a 1,000-mile journey around the Alaska Peninsula, according to Williams.

Read the rest at the link.

Slow-Motion Avalanche? Only in Alaska

and perhaps a few other northerly or high-altitude areas ... comes this news of a very slow avalanche:

FAIRBANKS -- The state plans to move a 2,000-foot section of the Dalton Highway in 2017, hoping to delay a collision of geologic proportions.

As of August 2013, the frozen debris field was 189 feet from the Dalton Highway shoulder. COURTESY DR. MARGARET DARROW — UAF

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2014/06/23/3530983/as-frozen-debris-field-slides.html?sp=/99/188/189/#storylink=cpy

A moving mass of frozen debris -- about 80 feet deep, 600 feet wide and a mile long -- continues to inch downhill toward the highway, both winter and summer, sweeping away everything in its path. Researchers theorize that the giant blob is sliding year-round atop a layer of water that remains a liquid despite the permafrost because it is under high pressure.

It may take five to 10 years for the "frozen debris lobe" to reach the road at its current pace of several inches per week, but a similar formation three miles away has been clocked at 125 feet a year, almost fast enough for someone to hear the rocks move.

FDL-D is the fastest-moving debris field studied among many in the Dalton Highway corridor. As of August 2013, it was just over a quarter-mile from the highway and has moved an average of 126 feet per year. COURTESY DR. MARGARET DARROW — UAF

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2014/06/23/3530983/as-frozen-debris-field-slides.html?sp=/99/188/189/#storylink=cpy

If the debris pile near Mile 219 of the Dalton Highway accelerates to that speed for some reason, the road and the trans-Alaska pipeline could quickly be placed between a rock and a hard place.

The road realignment plan set for 2017 would be in conjunction with a much larger road reconstruction effort from Mile 209 to 235, a spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities said.

There's more at the link.