Maintaining the Historic Alaska Marine Highway System

The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) was started in 1948 to provide dependable marine transportation to Alaska’s coastal communities. Over the last 74 years, the system has expanded to 3,500 mi, providing service to over 35 communities and becoming the only marine route recognized as a National Scenic Byway and All-American Road. Properly maintaining the expansive system requires regular and thorough underwater inspections of the remote ferry terminals to properly identify deficiencies before they become serious and lead to capacity/safety issues and costly repairs. The marine highway system is considered part of the National Highway System (NHS) and receives federal highway funding; it also falls under the inspection requirements and frequencies of the National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS). This paper focuses on the history of the marine highway system, why it’s inspected, challenges encountered during inspections, facility configurations and materials, and underwater inspection findings encountered while inspecting Alaska’s remote ferry terminals, which are a critical transportation link for the communities they serve.