Mount Dewey trail extension nearly complete

The extension to the Mount Dewey trail is nearly complete and will connect the existing trail to a new trailhead on Bennett Street.

Work began on the three-quarter-mile trail extension in December and is expected to be complete by the end of the month. It will provide a pathway from the backside of Mount Dewey, supplementing the longstanding route up the front from downtown.

The borough worked with the Wrangell Cooperative Association to name the trail Sháchk Kináa Deiyí, which means “path over the muskeg.”

The total project cost added up to $889,768, Borough Manager Mason Villarma said.

A Federal Lands Access Program grant through the Federal Highway Administration paid for most of the work. The grant is designed to improve transportation facilities that provide access to, are adjacent to, or are located within federal lands. The borough covered the $113,000 match.

The borough contracted with Ketchikan Ready-Mix and Quarry for work on the trail, which features six-foot-wide and two-foot-wide sections of gravel.

The plan to improve the Mount Dewey trail system has been in progress since a 2014 public forum, when community members told borough staff that they’d like to see the trail updated.

Originally, plans for this extension included a cedar step-and-run trail covered in anti-slip netting — similar to what is on the present trail — and a geogrid stabilization system that would prevent the trail’s gravel sections from dispersing into the muskeg beneath. But the design was changed in order to reduce costs.