Goose Creek Correctional Center going up with

GOOSE CREEK CORRECTIONAL CENTER—A recent tour of the state prison in the Point MacKenzie area showed what it takes to build the State's largest vertical, public construction project: five of the four buildings are enclosed, including one of the most complex structures, the Support & Visitation building with its 176,000 square feet of floor space. Loads of conduit runs beneath its floors and then surfaces labeled in eight colors for distinction.

Here's some more interesting facts:

• $10 million to $15 million in sitework and underground utilities already went into the project

• one pallet holds something akin to 25 miles of wiring

• $5 million to $7 million per month is spent on labor and materials

• 16,000 yards of concrete will go into the entire project

• 1,400 tons to 1,500 tons of rebar will be needed

• 175 workers are there now with 98 percent of them local MAT-SU hires. The workforce will increase to a peak of some 230 workers this summer.

• When the Center opens, some 350 permanent Corrections jobs will be created

• Goose Creek Correctional Center helps bring home the 900 or more inmates who are housed out of state as well as the tens of millions of Alaska dollars that are circulating in another state

For more information call Patty Sullivan, MAT-SU Borough Public Affairs Director, 745-9577 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Photos by Patty Sullivan/MSB and Kim Woodbury/RISE Alaska. To view a gallery of photos connect on the Matanuska-Susitna Borough's facebook page http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48063&id=1553264637&l=57c7818ce7

Also visit the comprehensive prison web page at http://www.matsugov.us/prison