Alaska plans new bridge that will preserve Black Veterans Memorial spans

Summary

Alaska is moving ahead with plans to replace an aging bridge that commemorates Black soldiers who helped build the Alaska Highway during World War II, while keeping part of the structure in place as a memorial.

State transportation officials said the Gerstle River span near Delta Junction will be replaced by a new bridge that will run parallel to the existing bridge and leave about 50 feet between the two locations. The state said the replacement is expected to open in 2031, and the old bridge will stay in place until then.

The bridge being replaced is the Black Veterans Memorial Bridge, a span that was renamed in 1993. State officials said the original bridge included nine trestles and that the replacement plan would preserve two of them as part of the memorial concept.

Under the state’s approach, the new bridge will replace the existing 1,885-foot (575-meter) structure. Officials said seven of the bridge’s trestles will be offered for free to states, local governments or private entities that agree to maintain them for their historical features and public use.

Officials said the two remaining trestles—described as the first trestles on either end of the old bridge—will retain the memorial name. The state said the new Gerstle River Bridge will be expected to carry the memorial name unofficially unless the Alaska Legislature makes it official, and the preserved sections will remain in place at the historic location.

Mary Leith, a former mayor of Delta Junction and a member of the historical society, said she supports saving some of the history but wants additional visitor access and interpretive support. Leith said she would hope the state preserves the memorial “properly,” including signage and a highway pullout area near the bridge so people can walk on it.

Angelica Stabs, a spokesperson for the Alaska transportation department, said the Black Veterans Memorial Bridge sign will remain and the preserved sections will be visible from the new bridge. Stabs said both preserved sections will be blocked off to prevent people from climbing or vandalizing them, and that no pullout is planned.

Stabs also described the physical layout of the replacement, saying the new bridge will parallel the existing bridge to the east. She said that configuration is intended to leave space between the old and new bridge locations while the memorial trestles remain where they are.

The memorial is tied to the work of segregated Black soldiers who helped build early Alaska Highway connections, according to a historical account by the National Park Service included in the reporting. The account said those soldiers faced extreme conditions in the far north—along with limits on heavy machinery use, confinement to wilderness assignments, and restrictions on entering towns—while participating in construction near Delta Junction.

According to the National Park Service account, it took Black soldiers working from the north just over eight months to connect with white soldiers coming from the south and to complete a gravel road connection then called the Alcan Highway from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to Delta Junction on Oct. 25, 1942. The account also said the U.S. Army later became the first government agency to integrate in 1948, a move it said was largely credited in part to the work of the soldiers who built the Alcan.

For people or organizations hoping to take custody of some of the trestles, Alaska said it is accepting proposals through March 6. The state said recipients do not have to take all seven trestles and that it will consider proposals seeking one or two trestles, including uses such as a walkway over a creek in a public park.

The state said winners will be required to follow restrictions, including not allowing vehicular traffic. Officials said recipients must also pay for removal, transportation and lead abatement, and maintain the features that make the bridge historically significant.