Drivers on Haines Highway observed the speed limit through the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, which remained at 55 mph during this year’s Alaska Bald Eagle Festival.
For the last three years, the speed limit between 19 and 21 Mile was reduced to 45 mph, said Haines Department of Transportation foreman Matt Boron, as drivers found themselves dangerously dodging people in the road.
“People were having to swerve around tripods,” Boron said.
But DOT found the reduced speeds didn’t seem to make a difference.
“We found it was an exercise that didn’t really do anything one way or the other,” Boron said. “It’s pretty hard to throw a speed reduction up on a major highway and get instant results. By the time folks register that new signs are up, we took them down. We only put the signs up for the actual festival week but people are up there for weeks before and weeks after taking pictures.”
The reduced speeds couldn’t stop pedestrians from wandering into the road, he said, and a state trooper might only venture up the highway for a short time once a day to actually enforce the reduced speed limit.
“This year, I didn’t see anybody with a camera on the road,” Boron said.
Boron said less snow during the festival kept people off the highway. Clear parking, walkways and paths made it easier for festival-goers to get closer to the Chilkat River.
Boron said the problem “seemed to resolve itself.”