Fish, property at
issue on road job

By Jessica Edwards

More than 80 Chilkat Valley residents turned out for meetings earlier this month to hear about state Department of Transportation plans to widen and straighten Haines Highway in preparation for a potential natural gas pipeline and Yukon mineral shipping.

The state has been tight-lipped about its strategy for dealing with right of way acquisitions and incursions, saying the issues could take up to a year to identify and address.

“Even if we got funding this year, immediately, we’re looking at 2011 or beyond for construction,” engineer Steve Noble told residents at the Chilkat Center March 4. Noble said construction would stretch over several seasons.

Residents at meetings in Haines and Klukwan expressed concerns ranging from subsistence fishing areas and salmon habitat, to preservation of archaeological sites, to boat access, and potential conflicts over property in state rights of way.

Representatives from DOT and Anchorage firm DOWL Engineers provided with an update of proposed improvements between 3.5 and 23.5 Mile Haines Highway.

Highway upgrades, estimated to cost $85 million, were put on hold in September 2006 for lack of funding, but permitting work was resumed in 2008 with renewed state interest in an Alaska natural gas pipeline.

DOT planners said it would take a year to complete the environmental assessment and an additional year to address right-of-way issues.

State-owned right of way typically extends 150 feet from the highway’s centerline.

A draft alignment study on display at the March 4 meeting showed several properties with structures in the state’s right-of-way, including two houses near 8 Mile and a garage just off the road at 9.5 Mile.

But residents say they haven’t had much luck getting information about state plans for property in rights of way.

Bud Stewart, an 18-Mile resident, said he attended the March 4 meeting hoping to get some solid answers about plans to straighten a section of highway curving around his property.

Stewart said DOT representatives visiting his house several years ago said new road alignments would eat up a 300-foot section of airplane runway Stewart had built for about $12,000. The section extended an existing runway and allowed room to land his plane.

Stewart said DOT representatives – including ones at the recent meetings – haven’t been able to give him definitive answers and instead said final alignments weren’t complete.

If the state still plans to straighten the road across his runway, he hopes to be granted a 300-foot easement to the west so he can continue landing his plane.

Resident Margaret Piggott has lived 35 years in a house on a promontory at 8 Mile Haines Highway. Her house is in the state’s right of way, but she said DOT has eluded giving her a firm answer about its fate.

Piggott said she’s been in regular contact with DOT since the project ramped up in 2005, and said DOT right of way experts had recently told her, “Sorry, we can’t say.”

Piggott said she hoped DOT could find an alternative to moving her house. Curves in the road there could be straightened using a large pullout at the bottom of her driveway, she said. “It’d be nice if I can stay.”

DOT planner Jim Scholl said the state, by law, can’t start working with residents on encroachments and rights of way issues until after an environmental document and road alignment are approved.

DOT expects a draft environmental assessment to be completed this spring along with a final alignment study. A final EA will be completed next year.               

DOT planning chief Andy Hughes said upgrades will be broken into four sections: repaving and widening Lutak Road between Front Street and Union Street; replacing the Chilkat River Bridge and its approach from 21 to 25.3 Mile; addressing debris and mud flows in areas between 17 and 21 Mile; and paving and widening sections between 10.5 and 17 Mile and 3.5 to 10.5.

Shoulders on either side of the road will be widened from two to six feet, dangerous curves will be widened and straightened where possible, and the entire roadway will be resurfaced.

State officials said replacing Wells Bridge and designing a safer approach are a top priority. Options for replacing the bridge include keeping it in its current location and moving the highway closer to the mountainside to make a longer, straighter approach, or putting the new bridge 650 feet downstream of its current location, near a chum salmon enhancement channel.

Klukwan resident Sally Burattin said she was concerned about preserving salmon spawning areas near 21 Mile Haines Highway, in the channel of the Chilkat River passing under Wells Bridge, and at 14 Mile.

Because of spawning and subsistence areas downstream, Burattin said it was important to replace Wells Bridge in its current location.

She said prior DOT highway upgrades near the border had destroyed king and dog salmon habitat at 30 Mile and Big Boulder Creek.

DOT took notes on important spawning areas at the village meeting March 5. “They weren’t sure of spawning grounds and eagle nest (sites),” she said. “I felt they were quite responsive to my questions.”

Burattin also mentioned as concerns preservation of Tlingit gravesites near 4 Mile and at the top of Klukwan hill near 24 Mile, and additional signs to guide tourists to pullouts for picture taking during the winter eagle congregation. “They should be fined $5,000 to stand in the middle of the road.”

Mandy Ramsey, a 7 Mile resident, said she attended the meeting to investigate potential right of way issues with property she owns adjacent to the highway.

Ramsey said while her   concerns were allayed, she said the project looked like it would heavily impact residents commuting up the valley and subsistence and sport fishing areas. “I’m concerned about salmon and wetlands, and about the river having a mind of its own,” said Ramsey. “It’s going to affect everybody.”

Residents Mark Allen and Andy Hedden asked planners about the possibility of including paved bike and pedestrian lanes with highway improvements, but engineer Noble said such upgrades weren’t included in the project budget.

Money for planning, design and construction of bike paths would have to be pursued through other avenues, Noble said.

DOT engineering manager Jim Heumann said a final alignment study for the project will be posted at http://dot.alaska.gov/stwdplng/projectinfo/ser/Haines/index.shtml when it’s completed later this month. A hard copy will be available at the public library.