Fairbanks Cushman Street closed for construction till mid June

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - The summer road work season is already upon us, as the Department of Transportation announced on Sunday, May 1st, the closure of the Cushman Street Bridge.

According to Kaitlin Williams, Publication Specialist for the Department of Transportation (DOT), the bridge will be closed for the next six weeks as improvements are made to the area.

“We’re working to make improvements on the bridge by widening the sidewalks,” Williams explained. “We’re going to be resurfacing and restriping the bridge, as well as installing new signage and upgrading the street lamps. We’re also going to be retrofitting the bridge with newer technology so that it can handle any potential earthquake activity in the future.”

Along with widening and improving the sidewalks for a better and safer experience for pedestrians, DOT is also planning to improve ramps leading to the river so they will be safer and more accessible per the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“As our city grows, we see more pedestrians,” Williams elaborated. “There’s more events on the river in the winter. The city [government] wants the city to be more walkable and more pedestrian friendly, and a lot of these improvements are ADA improvements.”

As for the decision to close the bridge at the start of May, according to Williams this was done to prevent conflict with other planned closures during the summer season. “Another thing is looking into the bigger picture. There’s a lot of closures going on around the Fairbanks area this year, and we want to make sure that it doesn’t overlap with any of those closures so that there’s not as many closures all at the same time.”

Pedestrians will be able to detour using the Centennial Bridge or Barnett Bridge, and motor traffic will be detoured to the Wendell Avenue Bridge. Construction is anticipated to be completed by the third week of June.

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