Maintenance & Operations

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Challenge

The Department’s Maintenance and Operations personnel are responsible for the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the State’s transportation system. This includes the safe and efficient maintenance and operation of over 5600 miles of state owned roadways, 237 rural airports, 845 bridges and 839 public facilities. Maintenance personnel are stationed at 79 maintenance facilities across the State ranging from Ketchikan in Southeast Alaska to Barrow on the north-slope to Adak in the Aleutian Islands.

Alaska’s transportation system lies within one of the most extreme and challenging environments in the world. Alaska is a land of extremes with temperatures ranging from 100F to -80F, snowfalls as high as 974 inches of snow at Thompson Pass, and 80% of the State is under laid by ice-rich permafrost. Maintenance activities are conducted in a geographically diverse climate ranging from maritime to arctic.

Organization & Responsibilities

Maintenance and Operations forces are organized geographically within three Regions (Southcoast, Central, and Northern). There are three regional M&O managers, one in Anchorage (Central Region), Fairbanks (Northern Region), and Juneau (Southcoast Region). They supervise the maintenance activities of their regions and report to their respective regional directors.

Maintenance and operation responsibilities include all the activities to keep our State’s highways, bridges, airports, buildings and harbors in good condition and safe for the traveling public. These include highway and airport anti-icing and deicing, snowplowing, snow hauling, avalanche control and mitigation, vegetation management, guardrail repair, sign maintenance, street/traffic light repair, drainage structures, fence maintenance, airport light repair, airport rescue and firefighting, airport security, and facility repairs. It also includes responding to all emergency/weather related situations such as snow and ice removal, fallen trees, mud and landslides, and roadway/airport flooding.

Technologies used

The department utilizes modern technologies and advancements to effectively and efficiently manage the State's transportation infrastructure. Maintenance personnel utilize over 75 Road Weather Information System (RWIS) stations to improve the timeliness of maintenance actions, like when to snowplow or apply anti-icing/de-icing chemicals on the highways and airports. Most of these RWIS sites also include cameras, which assists both our staff and the public determine real-time road conditions.

The department employs a robust anti-icing program in order to proactively combat the effects of snow and ice. The department also utilizes a state-of-the-art High Accuracy Differential Global Positioning System on several of its snowplows and snowblowers in the Thompson Pass area. This system provides a head-up-display in the equipment that provides a virtual view of the highway. This allows our Thompson Pass personnel to clear snow in total whiteout conditions with zero visibility.