Motorists, take note of the new signs flanking the Haines Borough administration building and library parking areas.
The borough has turned the area into a one-way loop, connecting the two parking lots. Vehicles should enter through the library lot, drive around the administration building and around the office trailer, and exit through what used to be the administration building’s entrance area.
The question of connecting the lots arose a year ago during the Third Avenue project, when the Planning Commission asked former public facilities director Carlos Jimenez to look into the cost of paving a connection between the two lots.
The issue was also discussed at “work group” sessions about replatting the borough’s property behind the administration building. Planning commissioner Heather Lende sat on the work group, and said the library board and staff were consulted and were in favor of the connection.
Manager David Sosa said this week the new traffic pattern will be safer. “For a couple weeks (or) a month, there will be people going the wrong way. But over time, it will become the norm and overall it will be safer.”
Sosa said this week he didn’t know if the connecting area – currently gravel and dirt – would ever be paved.
When asked if the planning commission talked about the traffic pattern change, Sosa said it didn’t. “It’s not required, since you’re dealing with two really connected parking lots. It’s pretty much a straight-forward (question of) how do we handle traffic in two borough plots.”