12th Street will be partially closed between Glacier Avenue and A Street on Friday, October 6 while utility upgrades are made. During this time, the roadway will be closed to vehicular traffic in sections and rerouted. Work will be completed by the end of the day, weather depending.

Pedestrian access will be maintained via sidewalks. Please follow traffic control signs and flaggers. We appreciate your patience and cooperation.

If you have special access issues and/or concerns, please contact:

• John Hollatz, Wilson Engineering, at (907) 321-7760 or [email protected]
• Buck Svinicki, SECON, at (907) 780-5145 or [email protected]
• John Nelson, CBJ Project Manager, at (907) 957-2187 or [email protected]

The City and Borough of Juneau, in collaboration with urban design consultants First Forty Feet, is seeking input on design alternatives for the Telephone Hill site. A community workshop is scheduled for Wednesday October 11 at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center (JACC) from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. to gather community feedback.

The design alternatives have been shaped by insights gathered during the initial engagement session, which focused on introducing the community to the project and conducting engagement activities to gather information regarding the community’s needs, goals, and overall vision. Your input on these alternatives will play a crucial role in helping the team develop a preferred plan. The outcome of this meeting will guide the city in determining the next steps for the project and how to proceed in a manner that aligns with the project objectives and the community’s overarching vision.

Join us to share your thoughts on Telephone Hill and its future. The workshop will begin at 5 p.m. with a questionnaire (completed using either cellphone or paper copy) before moving into discussion and notation of the design alternatives. If you are unable to join but would still like to provide feedback, email [email protected] to find out how you can get involved.

For more information, email [email protected].

To facilitate maintenance work on the Downtown Transportation Center Parking Garage, the southbound lane of Main Street from 2nd Street to Egan Drive and the west side sidewalk from 2nd Street to Front Street will be closed Monday, October 2 through Friday, October 6 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Traffic will be detoured onto 2nd Street at 2nd and Main, then to Seward Street and on Seward Street to Egan Drive.

Parking garage access will be maintained through the Level One entry (off the DTC bus pull-through) and through the Level Four bridge during this time. Periodically, however, the Level One entry will be closed and the Level Two entry (off Main Street) will be opened.

During closure hours, Capital Transit will not have service on Franklin Street and 4th Street. For more service information, visit juneaucapitaltransit.org.

For questions, please contact CBJ Project Manager Lisa EaganLagerquist at [email protected] or (907) 586-0800 ext. 4184.

Paving work will take place on Monday, September 25, on Tongass Boulevard between Dudley Street and Mendenhall Loop Road, including the intersection of Tongass Boulevard and Short Way. This is part of Phase II of the Tongass Boulevard Reconstruction Project.

This section of the road will be closed to vehicular traffic from 8:30 a.m. until paving is complete (estimated 7 p.m.). Please note that this means vehicles parked on Short Way will be unable to exit the street while work is underway. Please plan your parking accordingly.

Pedestrian access will be available via the sidewalks. If you have special access needs or concerns, please contact the project team:

• John Hollatz, Wilson Engineering, [email protected] or (907) 419-8790
• John Nelson, CBJ Engineering, [email protected] or (907) 586-0896
• Andrew Campbell, Admiralty Construction, [email protected] or (907) 780-3555

We appreciate your patience and cooperation while work is underway.

The City and Borough of Juneau is pleased to announce that Denise Koch will serve as the next Director of Engineering and Public Works. Koch succeeds outgoing director Katie Koester, who assumes the role of City Manager this month.

Koch was previously CBJ Deputy Director of Engineering and Public Works, a position she has held since May 2021. Her appointment is effective immediately.

“Denise is a champion for our community,” said Koester. “Not only is she a devoted public servant, she is a skilled manager with a wealth of knowledge and expertise. I’m excited to be able to continue working with Denise as she takes on this important role, and grateful to leave the department in good hands.”

“Engineering & Public Works is a diverse department filled with talented staff who do work that is critical to residents’ everyday lives—but that is sometimes invisible,” said Koch. “This is the department that provides your drinking water, disposes of what you put into the sewer, plows and fills potholes on roads that most of us drive every day, and builds and maintains the city’s critical infrastructure. In over twenty years living in this community I’ve seen firsthand just what an important role this department plays, and I look forward to working with the Assembly, staff, and the public to keep moving Juneau forward.”

As Deputy Director, Koch supervised the CBJ Utility, Capital Transit, and waste programs. She has served in CBJ’s Emergency Operations Center for the COVID pandemic and the recent Mendenhall River flood event. She is also a member of the EPA Small Community Advisory Subcommittee, where she represents CBJ and small Alaskan communities.

Prior to joining CBJ, Koch spent several years with the State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, including six years at director level as Director of Air Quality and Director of Spill Prevention and Response.

Koch holds an M.S. in Public Health from the University of Washington and a B.A. in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia.