The Haines Highway reconstruction project, a $100 million job about 12 years in the making, this week received the green light to move forward.

The Federal Highway Administration signed off on the Alaska Department of Transportation’s plan to widen the roadway, straighten curves and address slide issues from Mile 3.5 to 25.3. The organizations jointly released final environmental paperwork and the critical “finding of no significant impact” document on Tuesday.

“This is a very large hurdle,” DOT spokesperson Jeremy Woodrow said. “If all goes smoothly we can go to construction as soon as next summer.”

The project has generated local controversy, with residents turning out at public meetings to criticize the potential impacts to fish and wildlife, including bald eagles.

As compared to the 2013 environmental assessment, the final revised environmental impact statement has reduced the number of passing zones and avoided straightening several curves to reduce the amount of fill used in the Chilkat River and its wetlands.

The new plan reduced fill in the Chilkat River from 7.7 to 3.6 acres, and reduced fill in wetlands from 23.6 to 22.2 acres, including a reduction of fill in a one-acre area of “high value wetlands” near Mile 10.

“Vegetated river protrusions,” which Woodrow described as a hybrid between engineered logjams and “woody debris piles,” will be used to avoid degrading roadside fish habitat. The Chilkat Indian Village approved use of the vegetated river protrusions, he said.

With the FHWA’s approval, the only recourse for those still dissatisfied with the plan will to comment during the Army Corps of Engineers permitting process. DOT hasn’t yet applied for the Corps permit to do wetlands work, and Woodrow said he believes it will take several months to secure the permit.

The project, which also will replace Wells Bridge, will be completed in phases. Mile 3.5 to 12, expected to cost $37 million, is first on the list, Woodrow said.

The highway will be raised 15-18 feet from its current location at Miles 19 and 23, the sites of major slide areas. Culverts will also be installed in those areas for debris to flow under the roadway.

Lynn Canal Conservation president Eric Holle said he hadn’t had time to work his way through the massive document by press time, but said the replacement and repair of failing and undersized culverts should help improve fish habitat, and LCC hopes DOT follows through on those plans.

“We also hope that they will utilize mitigation funds to do something that will enhance king salmon habitat in the Chilkat watershed, particularly some form of engineered log jams,” Holle said.

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