Homer Alaska - Business

The project makes it possible for ferries to dock in Gustavus, something they couldn't do with the 40-year old dock it replaces. The new ferry service to Gustavus will be the first new community the system has served since in started going into Prince William Sound's Chenega Bay in the 1980s, ferry managers said.

The dock will certainly bring change to Gustavus, said Mayor Paul Berry.

"I like to tell people, 'I don't know how it will change, but I know that it will,'" he said.

Ferry service and freight service with ferries or barges will likely bring additional people to Gustavus, allow locals to travel to Juneau more cheaply, and reduce freight rates, he said. The old dock it replaces is still functioning, but has seen weight limits continually reduced in recent years.

"The state had always been reducing the vehicle weight limits, and smaller and smaller amounts of freight could be handled," Berry said.

Gustavus is the gateway community to Glacier Bay National Park, and most of its residents are employed at the park or in other aspects of the visitor industry. The population of 450 nearly doubles in the summer.

The first scheduled ferry trip is Nov. 23, after the final pilings are driven and decking is down. The project was celebrated recently with a ribbon-cutting in Gustavus.