"We did a little patch on the worst area. What they did yesterday was basically an overlay ... where we left most of the existing surface. We were able to get the worst of the worst," said Carl High, regional supervisor for the Alaska Department of Transportation.

At about 10 a.m., a 12-person crew from Soldotna-based Alaska Road Builders, Inc. was hard at work on a 30 to 40-foot long stretch of pavement in the southbound lane of Lake Street, using three dump trucks, a steamroller and an Ingersoll Rand PF-5510 paver to lay down a new layer of fresh asphalt.

By afternoon, the project was completed and the state-owned road was reopened.

City Manager Walt Wrede said he was glad something was being done about the beleaguered street but wished the city had been notified in advance that it was going to be closed. The Public Works Department received several calls from frustrated motorists about the closure Thursday morning, he said.

The project was not listed on ADOT's roadwork information Web site, www.511.alaska.gov.

ADOT spokesperson Rick Feller said he, too, was unaware the road was being repaired Thursday but said fixing Lake Street is high priority for the state.

"We know that there are a lot more improvements that need to happen. This is kind of a Band-Aid fix to get a better driving surface there until we can get a better fix."

High said the project, which cost about $35,000, was put together quickly to take advantage of the fact that the Alaska Road Builders crew was already in Homer, working on a section of taxiway at the Homer Airport.

"It kind of came together at the last minute so we weren't able to do it in the Homer News and stuff but were able to get out some radio ads," he said.

In addition to the Lake Street project, ADOT plans to do crack sealing work on sections of East End Road, East Hill Road and West Hill Road, said High, and will be painting stripes on various state-owned roads around Homer throughout the near future. Later in the summer, he added, ADOT will be working on Ohlson Mountain Road to fix "soft spots" and on an extension project for the east end of Skyline Drive.

As for Lake Street, High said he thinks the resurfacing work should last three to five years but the road still needs a longer-term fix.

"The whole thing need resurfaced," he said. "We've been trying to address it since last fall since we started having major problems with it. It's still just a Band-Aid but we did the best we could."

Aaron Selbig can be reached at aaron.selbig@homernews.com.