Long awaited JBER construction project under way

by Air Force Staff Sgt. Blake Mize
JBER Public Affairs

11/14/2013 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska  -- A construction project on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in the works for almost a decade is underway and promises to boost the quality of life for JBER's single Soldiers.

Among other logistics structures, a 480-person barracks is being constructed.

"The barracks are the most prominent because we want to take care of the single Soldiers first," said Allan Lucht, 673d Civil Engineer Group deputy commander. "These new barracks are going to actually get folks that are, in a lot of instances, right now in a room with another Soldier in a bunk bed, with a common latrine down the hall and a laundry facility down the hall. They are going to a new suite with their own bedroom. They will have a roommate who has their own bedroom and those two roommates will share a common kitchenette, a washer and dryer, and a bathroom."

The barracks portion of the project may have the potential to have the largest effect, but it is far from the only aspect of this construction.

"This project is much larger than the barracks," Lucht said. "It has to do with when the [4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division] had to stand up here in 2005. Basically, [then-Fort] Richardson's population grew by nearly 200 percent. All the facilities that a brigade would need for that type of population [needed to be built]."

Although necessary, a project of this magnitude takes a considerable amount of time and teamwork to come to fruition, Lucht said.

"It's really a team effort," he said. "We pulled in ourselves, the mission units and the Army Corps of Engineers, who are the executive agents for doing all of this. Then, of course, you need to get the money to start doing all the design and everything. Military construction can only be successful with a team effort."

Lucht said in a perfect world, this project would have taken five years from the time then-Fort Richardson leadership was notified of the 4-25th IBCT's imminent arrival, which was in 2004. However, Department of Defense financial challenges and other competing priorities delayed the process.

"Originally, we were supposed to start all of this construction in 2008 and it was finally funded in 2012," he said.

Lucht also explained the benefits of constructing brand new facilities instead of remodeling existing ones.

"There simply wasn't the space within the existing structures to reach the density needed," he said. "We would have to renovate eight of those old barracks to [fit] 480 people. Those eight barracks are spread over two city blocks worth of real estate where the 480-person barracks is just on one little footprint."

He said the cost savings over the long term is considerable as well.

"In 2005, the Army moved to Type II construction, which is supposed to have a life expectancy of 35 years," he said. "But it is much more adaptable than Type I construction. It's more of a modular construction inside of a permanently shelled building. It's easier to keep the frame and you'll have utility runs that don't get disturbed. That's where it really gets expensive, when you have to start moving major utility runs around a building and move the load-bearing walls. It was so much more expensive per individual space to renovate those old barracks."

In the end, Lucht said, the need for this new construction comes down to quality of life for JBER's service members.

"I heard a story of a four-star [general] that visited some folks working in the mud," he said. "[The general] asked the Soldiers, 'How do you put up with this every day?' They said, 'Because I go back to brand new barracks every night. I can put up with anything as long as I have a nice quality-of-life facility to sleep in.'"