Porcupine Road is at risk of closing this winter if a short-term fix to block flooding from the Klehini River fails.

Haines Borough manager Debra Schnabel and public facilities director Brad Ryan met with stakeholders July 13 to discuss the future of the road, which Schnabel said is “under attack” by the river.

Porcupine Road provides access for Constantine Metal Resources staff, Raw TV film crews, independent miners, timber operators, hunters, trappers, private landowners, subsistence foragers and others who use Sunshine Mountain for recreation.

The borough released a request for proposals Wednesday to install rip-rap, or rock berms to block flooding along 600 feet of the road as a short-term (three-to-five-year) fix. “If the short-term fix holds for the season, we will address the long-term fix this winter,” according to the manager’s report. “If the short-term fix does not hold, it is the staff recommendation that the road be closed.”

Porcupine Road follows the Klehini River, a braided waterway with constantly moving channels fed by glacial melt. Schnabel said when the weather is exceptionally warm, like in July and August, the river rises and washes out the low points of the gravel road, making it impassable.

Schnabel said the borough has invested $72,000 of capital improvement funds since 2015 in repairs to the road. Porcupine Road is supposed to be maintained under the Historic Dalton Trail road maintenance service area by people who live there, according to borough code. But Schnabel said “Porcupine Road’s maintenance issues are extraordinary.”

Constantine, Raw TV and the Stump Company have donated several thousand dollars, and Kenny Waldo has donated time and equipment, for road repairs to maintain access, but that source of money is not sustainable, said Schnabel.

“The primary argument for maintaining the road is economic value,” Schnabel said. “For us to take an attitude that we don’t want to maintain the road is ignoring that it supports local commerce.”

At this month’s meeting, landowners Kelly Jessup and Ken Waldo, state forester Greg Palmieri, Constantine Minerals’ Liz Cornejo and Darsie Culbeck, Delta Western’s Fred Gray, Raw TV’s Lisa Roberts, timber faller Scott Rossman and sawmill owner Sylvia Heinz said Sunshine Mountain Road – maintained by the state – is not an acceptable alternative way to access the mountain.

Rossman estimates that if Porcupine Road is closed, using Sunshine Mountain Road would increase firewood costs by $50 a cord for additional maintenance and labor. The steep, narrow road with switchbacks would limit equipment that could be brought up the mountain, which would then limit collection of firewood and shorten the season by about a month, Heinz said. She added it would be too dangerous to drive Sunshine Mountain Road with trailers and fully loaded logging trucks.

“Porcupine Road is our access to local timber. Without it we’re more dependent on infrastructure from larger timber sales,” Heinz said. She said local timber operators are also concerned about the upkeep of Sunshine Mountain Road if Porcupine Road is closed.

Gray of Delta Western said Sunshine Mountain Road “is a catastrophic accident waiting to happen. If the borough values public safety, they will repair the Porcupine Road system.”

Cornejo said Sunshine Road is not safe for the amount of daily traffic traveling to the Porcupine area.

“Sunshine is a narrow, windy, bumpy road with multiple blind corners that was not designed for the type of traffic Porcupine sees. Not only is an accident more likely, it would also be a longer, slower route for any emergency medical transport,” she said. “Porcupine is a far superior road – straighter, flatter, wider, safer. Only a small stretch of road is vulnerable to flooding, and to improve that stretch would maintain Porcupine Road as a valuable borough asset that provides safe, efficient access for those who travel for work, play and subsistence.”

Cornejo said Constantine will continue to make donations to the borough for Porcupine Road maintenance until a long-term solution is found.

 Palmieri said the state has funding to cut back eight miles of brush from the junction of the University of Alaska rock pit and beaver pond to the junction of Porcupine Road, to be completed within a year.

Schnabel said Porcupine Road is on the Chilkat Indian Village’s road inventory, so the organization can choose to help maintain the road. She also plans to involve the planning commission in discussions of a long-term solution.

Borough staff asked the Haines Economic Development Corporation to help them conduct a cost- benefit analysis to determine the value of keeping the road open, or what would be lost by not keeping it open. The board has not yet made a decision on the topic.

Public facilities director Ryan was not available for comment.