Arctic Deep Draft Port

under planning

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planning to construct the Arctic Deep Draft Port in Nome. The project will double the length of the port’s existing west causeway to reach approximately 2,100 ft farther into Norton Sound with a nearly 1,400-ft breakwater to protect the harbor entrance from incoming waves. The L-shaped barrier will also hold two new 450-ft docks and one new 600-ft dock to handle larger vessels. The existing east causeway breakwater will be demolished and replaced with a larger, 3,900-ft causeway-breakwater that will greatly expand the port’s outer basin. The bigger outer port basin will also be dredged deeper—from 22 ft currently to 28 ft—and the three new docks will be near the end of the longer west causeway breakwater in an area dredged to at least 40 ft deep. A two-year design phase began in the spring of 2021.