Less than a month after rocks fell in the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, blocking access to Whittier, the state of Alaska has put out a call for tunnel inspectors.
In a public notice posted Tuesday, the Alaska Department of Transportation said it is seeking “professional consultant services for tunnel safety inspection services throughout the state.”
The resulting contract will cost more than $1 million, the state expects.
The timing of the notice, coming soon after the rock fall in Whittier’s tunnel, is coincidental.
In July 2015, the Federal Highway Administration mandated that all qualifying tunnels nationwide be inspected and the results incorporated into the “National Tunnel Inventory.”
That inventory lists just three qualifying tunnels in Alaska: The Anton Anderson tunnel (second-longest road tunnel in North America), an approach tunnel on the Anchorage side of Anton Anderson, and the Water Street Tunnel in Ketchikan. That single-lane tunnel is Alaska’s busiest.
According to the state’s request for proposals, the first inspection must be performed before July 31 and routine inspections must follow that initial overview.
