For years, the Alaska Department of Transportation has struggled with what to do about the expensive and unsafe slide areas at 19 Mile and 23 Mile Haines Highway, designated the number one and number nine slope stability hazards in the entire state, respectively.
When rain or snowmelt saturates the unstable Chilkat Mountain slopes at 19 Mile and 23 Mile, debris comes rushing down the mountainside, occasionally overflowing onto the highway. The debris blocking the highway…