King Cove Coverall
King Cove, Alaska

The Aleutians East Borough is constructing 17 miles of road between King Cove and Cold Bay, Alaska.  By the end of the second construction season, all but 2 miles of the road had been completed.  Unfortunately, the 2 miles that remained were in the middle of the route.  The Borough decided to build a temporary facility at the end of the road segment extending north from King Cove to Larsen Bay.  A hovercraft would be stored there through the winter, to be used to complete the transportation link to Cold Bay until the road link could be completed.

The Borough decided on a “Coverall” type building, a series of steel frames over which a woven plastic fabric is stretched.  This 90-foot wide “temporary” facility has to withstand winds of up to 150 mph as well as protect the structure from the hovercraft. USKH has worked with “Coverall of Alaska” to install these fabric-covered buildings all over the state of Alaska.  We have designed foundations for systems up to 200 feet wide, on both temporary and permanent foundation systems.  These buildings work quite well against the rigors of Alaska’s weather with an appropriate foundation design.

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