Construction Report: Weekend closures at Fort Wainwright main gate

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - Starting Friday, July 8, the main gate at Fort Wainwright will be closed on weekends due to nearby construction.

Eve Baker, Media Relations Specialist on Fort Wainwright, explained, “Garrison leadership met with members of the construction project team, and they determined it was better to have an uninterrupted 48 hour block of construction access rather than, say, night closures.”

Vehicles entering base will be redirected during these closures, according to Baker. “Visitor’s center operations are going to move to Badger Gate, so anyone needing a pass to access Fort Wainwright will need to proceed to Badger Gate during the closures.”

Each weekend, the main gate will close at 9:00 p.m. on Friday, and will reopen at 5:30 a.m. on Monday.

Around those times, increased traffic may be seen along the Richardson Highway. “There’s no inbound access in the area, but there will be outbound access for our folks leaving the base,” Baker said.

During these closures, both the Badger Gate and Trainor Gate entrances will be staffed 24/7.

However, Baker says Trainor Gate will have more limited access, “only for DoD (Department of Defense) ID card holders and people who already have visitor passes.”

Requirements for getting onto base will remain the same. “You need to show a government-issued ID,” Baker elaborated, “such as a driver’s license or a passport, and you need to have a valid purpose, a valid business purpose, for accessing Fort Wainwright.”

The main gate will also close from July 29 to August 8.

The weekend closures are planned to last as long as the construction on the corner of Airport Way and the Steese Expressway.

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