Cathedral View Drive, Piedad Road and Young Road repairs likely won’t be completed until 2022. The roads were damaged during the widespread flooding and landslides in Haines in early December.
Haines Borough facilities director Ed Coffland said the timeline has to do with the extent of the damages and the bid process required to award contracts for design and construction.
“We might be able to do some of the minor repair work, the ones that don’t require engineering work, but most of the work will not get done this year because it takes so long to get through the engineering,” Coffland said in an interview Tuesday.
He said Chilkat Trail Road is an example of a smaller project that could be completed this summer.
“It’s just a matter of putting down some surfacing,” he said.
For other roads, the borough is working on a Request for Proposal (RFP) to solicit bids from engineering design firms. Coffland said the RFP lists Anway Road, Moose Lane, Sunshine Street, Chestnut Drive, Chilkoot Loop, Soap Suds Alley and Porcupine Trail, in addition to Cathedral, Piedad and Young.
Coffland said he hopes to have responses to the RFP by the end of March. He said it’s likely engineering work won’t begin until May.
“The engineering takes a few months, and by that time, summer’s gone,” he said, adding that the borough will need to repeat the bid process when it hires a contractor to execute the design.
Coffland estimates the total damage to borough roads falls in the $7 million to $8 million range, expenses that FEMA will likely cover through its public assistance program.
In addition to the damage to borough roads, flooding and landslides after the early December rains also damaged state roads, including the Haines Highway. The Alaska Department of Transportation didn’t respond to a request for comment about repair needs by press time.