Talkeetna Revetment Repairs Cost More Than Anticipated

Repairs to the Talkeetna revetment last fall will cost the Borough more money. According to Mat-Su Borough Public Works Director Tom Adams, the project was rushed to get the maintenance and repairs completed.

“It was a pretty fast and furious repair that had an estimated quantity of material. It had a set of construction documents that provided some guidance to the contractor.” 

Though the work has been completed, the Borough needed to renegotiate the final price. Adams says the Borough’s contractor used a higher grade, higher cost material on the top of the revetment than was called for in the scope.

“We certainly could have gone the route of having them deconstruct the dike and put new material down. And in the end what we did is negotiate a price that was more comparable to the material they should have placed. And they left the higher quality material in place.”

At their meeting this week, the Borough Assembly ultimately approved an appropriation of nearly $67,000 from the Talkeetna Flood Service Area Fund Balance to pay the contractor. This special service area fund is a condition of the original construction in 1979 and is the legal mechanism for maintaining the project.