The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded a $16.7 million dollar grant to begin construction of the first veterans cemetery in the Interior.
State Veterans Affairs Office Director Verdie Bowen said the federal veterans agency informed him of the grant last week. He says that’ll pay for the first phase of the Interior Alaska Veterans Cemetery to be located in Salcha.
“I’m trying diligently to get as close to a thousand cremains burial plots as we can,” Bowen said. “Because the idea behind this is I want this cemetery to go at least 12 to 13 years before it needs an expansion project.”
He says that money will be used to pay Fairbanks-based HC Contractors to build the first phase of the project off Johnson Road, just south of Eielson Air Force Base. The company submitted the lowest bid for the project.
“The dollar value for the contract's going to be around $14 million,” he said. “The other $2 million is going to be for the installation of the internal equipment inside the buildings, the oil tanks outside of the buildings, the crypts, columbariums...”
Bowen says Department of Transportation and Public Facilities officials hope to complete preparation work on the 257-acre site by the end of next month. He says that’ll enable HC Contractors to begin construction of the cemetery next spring.
“ We have one building, just a little piece of the building, left to be moved. And so then the property is ready for construction.”
Besides DOT, the state Office of Veterans Affairs also is working with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources on the project. Bowen says those state agencies and the federal veterans agency managed to complete preliminary work on the project last week. So they won’t have to worry about it being delayed by a possible federal government shutdown, if that happens.
“If they do a government shutdown,” he said, “it doesn't affect these funds, because this is current year funds. This isn't next year's funds. So, instead of turning the money back into the treasury, the VA just moved the money into our bucket.”
He said the first phase of the project must be completed by the end of 2028. But he’s confident that HC Contractors have it done before then -- maybe even a year early.
“ It is a very large project, but … I have great faith in them of being able to complete it by October of ’27.”
When it’s built, it will be Alaska’s first state-operated veterans cemetery.
Bowen says if all goes well, the state will begin interring the remains of veterans by the spring of 2028.
