Located 20 air mi. southwest of Eielson Air Force Base, Blair Lakes is a conventional bombing range used by Department of Defense personnel from Eielson AFB and Elmendorf AFB. It is accessible year-round via a 2,500-ft.-long gravel airstrip, while from mid-January to mid-March via an ice road built across Alaskan rivers and tundra.
The $16.7 million design-build project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers involves construction of a bulk fuel storage facility, a 20-person dormitory, and vehicle and range maintenance bays located one mile from the existing facilities. The 2,800-sq.-meter complex features water, septic, power generation, communications, and fire protection systems.
Once design was complete, materials were procured and mobilized to the project site via the ice road to minimize costs. Kiewit Construction Company, a subsidiary of Kiewit Corporation, began construction in the spring and substantially completed the project in November 2004.