A recent shortage of cement has created a sticky situation for several city construction projects. Public works director Nancy Peterson says Smokey Point Concrete ran out of cement last week. They’re a subcontractor on three big projects -- the landfill’s leachate tank, the paving of Ballyhoo Road and the Unalaska Marine Center dock drainage project.

Peterson says responsibility falls on the contractors -- Alaska Mechanical, Knik Construction, and Northern Mechanical -- to keep the three projects moving forward.

"They’re working through it," says Peterson. "And it’s not necessarily a full delay in the project, it’s just that the contractor may need to modify their schedule based on what they originally thought they might do first, they may be doing something else different."

For the Ballyhoo Road paving project, that means restricting work to stretches that don’t require concrete shoulders. It’s a bigger blow to the UMC dock drainage project, which is already 30 days behind schedule.

But the city managed to avert delays at the leachate tank by directing the last 40 yards of cement left on the island to the project. Peterson says they decided to prioritize work on the leachate tank because its scheduled completion date is approaching quickly.

"That was in the most critical time crunch," she says.

While the situation is far from ideal, Peterson says running out of construction materials isn’t that uncommon in Unalaska.

"This particular thing has not happened in recent memory, that I know of, on any of our projects. But it just-- stuff does happen a lot," she says.

Smokey Point Concrete has ordered more cement. It’s expected to arrive on August 4th.