Bruce Rein has returned from the final Marine survey of the Alaska United Fiber System
segment between Whittier and Valdez and has been kind enough to share his experiences on this
important project.
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What do you do at GCI?
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My job title is Alaska United Program Manager. I have been charged to be the submarine cable subject expert for GCI
and perform the tasks required to ensure the Alaska United is delivered in good order, on time and installed properly
providing Alaska with a high capacity, robust and secure fiber optic link to the lower 48. The tasks include project
management, marine cable engineering, coastal engineering, permit processing, and public relations with other maritime
industries. A fair amount of my time is involved with interactions with Tyco Submarine Systems Ltd., the supplier of
the marine cable and terminal transmission equipment.
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What was the purpose of your trip?
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The objective was two part. The first was to identify the most secure route between Whittier and Valdez, and the
second involved developing a detailed swath marine survey along the identified route. A cable route to the north of
Perry island was chosen to avoid areas that in which shrimp are actively bottom trolled by a small fleet of shrimp
boats and a severe drop off into what is locally referred to as the big hole just east of lone island. The northern
routing was found to be favorable for marine cable installation with extensive areas of thick soft bottom sediments
and a few areas of gravely glacier tilt sediment on submerged terminal moraines left by the receding glaciers. A swath
not less than one kilometer wide is developed alone the route to enable further route planning to avoid specific bottom
obstructions such as ship wrecks, large rocks, and steep bottom contours. The detailed survey information is also used
to ensure the submarine cable is engineered to fit the bottom. This includes choosing the correct type of cable
armoring, determining areas the cable will be buried in the seafloor and calculating the amount of cable slack will be
required to allow the cable to conform to the sea bottom contours.
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What part does the survey play in the Alaska United project in general?
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The survey provides the base information to finalize the system engineering. Not only the marine cable engineering as
discussed above, but also provides exact cable distances between the terminal equipment. This allows for the
engineering of the route loss budget and type of terminal equipment that will be required.
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How does the finishing of the survey affect the project's progress?
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The survey is vital to the final engineering of the marine cable system and allows Tyco Submarine Systems to assemble
the final cutting lengths of the submarine cable and manufacture terminal equipment suited to the system. It also
provides detailed information of the route required by state and federal permitting authorities.
The completion of the marine segment between Whittier and Valdez brings this segment in-line with
manufacturing of the larger segments of the Alaska United Fiber System from Whittier to Juneau and on to Seattle.
The marine survey of these system segments was completed December 21, 1996.
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