Chilkoot Lake Road corridor improvements, set to begin this fall, are being delayed a year, Alaska State Parks officials announced this week.

Parks’ design and construction project manager Danielle Ryder told the CVN that a cultural resources survey evaluation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been delayed by staff turnover. Construction on the project is dependent on Fish and Wildlife’s approval of the survey, which aims to protect archaeological and cultural resources in the area, the former site of a Chilkoot village.

“It’s been taking a little bit longer for the evaluation,” Ryder said. “It’s eliminated a season. We wanted to make sure the contractor has enough time to do the work. We want to catch those shoulder seasons in the fall and the spring.”

The Chilkoot River Corridor, which has become infamous for overcrowding and close calls between people and bears, has long concerned local and state officials. The Haines Borough Assembly in 2018 issued a moratorium on new tour permits to minimize overcrowding.

A Fish and Wildlife spokesperson was unfamiliar with the matter, but said the agency’s archaeologist recently retired, a possible cause of the survey review’s delay.

The project, which includes repaving the road with asphalt, building bear-viewing platforms and pedestrian walkways, signage, and culvert installation, is estimated to cost between $1 and $2.5 million.

The project’s bid process was delayed several times during the past two months. The next request for bids will begin in the spring or summer of 2020, Ryder said. The project is estimated to be completed by May 31, 2021.

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