The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers broke ground on a new training facility at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, that will allow joint forces and coalition partners to exercise simulated complex scenarios, according to a Sept. 23 news release from USACE.
The facility, known as Joint Integrated Test and Training Center - Elmendorf, will cost $332 million total, according to the release. A joint venture of ASRC Builders-Caddell, made of Anchorage’s ASRC Construction and Montgomery, Alabama-based Caddell Construction, won a contract in July for the job worth approximately $290 million, according to the U.S. government’s System for Award Management.
The $290 million reflects the project contract amount, while $332 million is the current working estimate, or how much the job will cost when it’s completed, Cameron McLeod, public affairs specialist for USACE Alaska District, told Construction Dive in an email
The training center will be the first of its kind and enable important joint and multinational force training, according to USACE. Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson is Alaska’s largest military installation and a critical strategic location to U.S. defense interests in the Arctic and Pacific, per a release from the U.S. Army.
The construction team will build a 150,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art, two-story building designed to withstand cold weather conditions, according to the USACE. Within the training facility will be 11 simulator rooms, briefing rooms, mission operation centers, a central server room and storage.
Altogether, the facility will allow joint forces and coalition partners to exercise simulated complex scenarios and train in a contested environment, per the Army.
“This ultramodern facility and the servicemembers that will execute its missions and operations will usher in a new era of military readiness,” said Col. Jeffrey Palazzini, district commander of USACE’s Alaska District, in the USACE news release.
The USACE has been making strides on several projects. USACE’s Buffalo District committed to using building information modeling across its design and construction projects on Aug. 13. And last year, USACE’s Baltimore District awarded a $499 million design-build contract to Herndon, Virginia-based Jade Creek Construction to modernize USACE facilities and enhance waterways in the Baltimore region over a five-year period.
