Nome has a port. What it doesn’t have is depth. Vessels calling there today are capped at drafts under 18 feet, which means anything larger than a shallow-draft barge anchors offshore and lighters its cargo in. The Port of Nome Modification Project is the fix, and Phase 1A — a $399.4 million contract awarded to Kiewit Infrastructure West — put in-water construction underway in June 2026.
When the full program is done, Nome will be the only deep-draft Arctic port in the United States.
Project Scope
Phase 1A extends the existing causeway 1,200 feet, including a 600-foot sheet-pile dock section and a 30-foot-wide road running its length. The extension is built as layered aggregate and rock, armored against Bering Sea ice and storm surge with 18-ton armor stone. Phase 1A is scheduled to finish in September 2029.
Later phases go further. A second causeway of 2,410 feet with 800 feet of dock, a 1,450-foot breakwater, and a 130-foot causeway bridge are all in the program, along with dredging that takes the basin from 22 feet to 40 feet. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District is the owner, with the City of Nome as non-federal sponsor. PND Engineers of Anchorage did the marine and civil engineering for Phase 1A.
The Corps rescoped and rephased the whole program after cost escalation, splitting the causeway extension into Phase 1A at 1,200 feet and Phase 1B at another 1,870 feet, currently programmed for FY2028.
Why It Matters
The schedule is the hard part. Everything in-water has to happen inside a short open-water season, which turns a straightforward rubble-mound extension into an exercise in staging and mobilization. Miss the window and the work waits a year.
The strategic case is Arctic logistics. Rare-earth mineral export, cruise calls, Coast Guard and Navy presence in the Bering Strait: none of it works at 18 feet of draft. Nome sits closer to the Bering Strait than any other American port site with existing infrastructure to build on, which is why the Corps kept the project alive through a cost reset rather than shelving it.
For contractors, it’s a reminder of what heavy marine work in the Arctic actually costs: $399.4 million buys 1,200 feet.
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Project Team & Details
| Owner / Client | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District (non-federal sponsor: City of Nome) |
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| Consultants | PND Engineers, Inc. (Marine and Civil Engineering) |
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| General Contractor | Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. |
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| Status | Under Construction |
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| Delivery Method | Design-Bid-Build |
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| Funding Source | Public (Federal) |
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