Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

The six-year effort to replace the old bridge, originally put in by Jon Schnabel, began in 2011 after the Alaska Department of Transportation determined the bridge was structurally unsound after finding cracks, stress fractures and damaged bracing, said ADOT public information officer Aurah Landau.

Construction on the $9.7 million project began last summer. Ninety percent of the replacement cost is federally funded, with the state paying for the remaining 10 percent.

This winter, during times of low water flow, the bridge will be demolished and riverbank protection will be added. Work should be completed by spring 2018, Landau said.