Water Street Trestle No. 2 Rehabilitation

Dawson Construction executed the Water Street Trestle No. 2 Rehabilitation, a complex multi-phase infrastructure project for the Alaska Department of Transportation. Beginning in June 2016, the project was divided into 8 distinct construction phases to maintain traffic flow and minimize disruption to this critical transportation corridor in downtown Ketchikan, Alaska's southernmost city and a major port along the Inside Passage.

The scope involved removing and replacing existing timber and concrete trestle structures and girder bridges, along with associated earthwork, grading, and placement of new asphalt concrete surfaces. The new construction includes a 700-foot long, pile-supported steel and concrete trestle structure engineered to modern seismic and load-bearing standards, a 75-foot long concrete girder bridge structure, and a 1,000 linear foot trestle bridge.

Water Street serves as a primary arterial route through downtown Ketchikan, built along the waterfront on a series of trestle structures over Tongass Narrows. The 8-phase construction approach allowed Dawson to systematically replace aging infrastructure while keeping the roadway accessible to traffic, emergency vehicles, and the commercial businesses that line this historic waterfront corridor, proving that even the most complex marine-adjacent civil projects can be completed without shutting down a community's critical transportation corridor.