US agencies launch fast track Project to protect Juneau from glacial floods

The US Army Corps of Engineers, the US Department of Agriculture, and the Department of the Interior are collaborating on a new initiative to protect Juneau, Alaska, from glacial lake outburst floods.

This project, called Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork (BINP), aims to bypass traditional bureaucratic hurdles to create low cost infrastructure prototypes quickly.

The initiative addresses the recurring threat from the Suicide Basin, a dammed area within the Mendenhall Glacier that releases water and snowmelt into the Mendenhall River every August. The agencies adopted this approach because standard procedures would have required more than ten years and over US$1bn to secure the area. By using industry led innovation and technical expertise, the departments hope to deliver a long term fix faster than traditional methods allow.

While officials work on these permanent solutions, they are currently providing short term measures to shield the community. To date, the US Army Corps of Engineers has completed a second phase of temporary flood mitigation in the Mendenhall River Valley. These measures include installing over 4.3km of gabion baskets, armoring 3km of riverbank, and building a 335m long earthen berm. The agency also provided 24.6km of temporary flood barriers, 112,500 sandbags, and 41 pumps to the city.