Residents, tourists, businesses and auto repair shops have seen a spike in the number of flat tires in the past five months, due to Southeast Construction’s (SECON) roadway widening of the Haines Highway between milepost 3.9 and 12.2. The project began last April, and is set to be complete in a series of three phases, reaching as far at milepost 24 by 2024.
Rainbow Glacier Adventures owner Joe Ordóñez said his buses drive the construction site daily.
“A certain number of flats you can expect just [by] living in Haines, but this year it’s been extraordinary,” Ordóñez said. “Just last week I had four flats,” he said. “I’m at 15 flat tires this year. Signaling 90 flat tires [by 2024], that’s a big expense.”
Peters Tire and Auto Repair owner Paul Peters said he has patched and repaired more flats than usual since the roadwork started.
“I can tell where that rock comes from. That rock comes from that construction out there,” Peters said. Tires deflate quickly once a driver travels through the construction site, he said, and often large rocks can be found wedged into the tires.
Auto shops around town are collecting the sharp and jagged rocks, also known as shot rock, that have been blasted from the highway’s cliff sides.
Bryce Iverson, project engineer for SECON, said the largest chunks of blasted rock will be used as rip rap in the river where they widen the road.
Kelleen Adams, owner of Lynn View Lodge, which provides vehicle rentals, said compared to about one flat per summer in past years, they’ve seen about 20 flats this summer. “I would say half of our tires that have been flat [happen] when they stop 33 Mile Roadhouse, and they come out and it’s flat,” she said.
Iverson said it’s common for vehicles to get flat tires on gravel surfaces. He said that each SECON truck is equipped with pumps and plug kits, and helps patch the traveling public’s tires when they get a flat on site.
“I appreciate that they’re willing to patch people’s tires,” Klukwan resident Justina Hotch said, and added that flat tires are common for people who live in Klukwan and regularly drive through the construction site. Her family has sustained 10 flat tires and five to six nicks in the windshield from rocks in the road, she said. “I would love it if they could pay to replace a tire or a windshield,” she said, referring to SECON or the Department of Transportation (DOT).
Caitlin Frye, DOT information officer, told CVN that she “is not aware of any situation in which DOT would allocate funding for flat tire repair,” however their staff “is aware of this issue and is actively discussing it with the contractor.”
Iverson said, while his team does help repair tires on the job, they “do not buy replacement tires.”
Karen Hess, owner of Chilkat River Adventures, said proper tire maintenance has helped her company avoid flats from the construction zone. “We put new tires on a lot of our buses… and I think that saved us from tire issues,” she said.
Though some local mechanics credit higher grade tires to why some vehicles may fare better than others through the construction site, others credit it to luck.
Adam Lockhart, a mechanic at Canal Marine, drives through the construction site daily, but hasn’t gotten a flat yet. “I just got a lucky draw,” he said, explaining that between his two vehicles he has a set of 8-ply tires and a set of softer 4-ply tires.
Ply doesn’t always make a difference with poor road conditions, Peters said. “Eight- to 10-ply tires, they do a lot better, but I’ve also seen some of them get blown up, too,” Peters said.
SECON expects to complete paving on the last 2.5 miles of phase 1 within about a week, according to Iverson. All gravel surfaces should be covered before winter, and phase two will pick up again this spring.