Dear Fellow Haines Residents:
On Sunday some Haines Junction friends who were down for the Fair came once again to pick cherries at our Union St. home. The trees are old — at least 30 years — but not so old as our 1908 Peterson-Day House dwelling. While Union St. is the designated “truck route” for downtown Haines, it is not a barren commercial strip. Between Canal Marine and Second Ave., there are a number of single- and multiple-residence houses including six historic homes within the Fourth- to Sixth-th avenues radius. Also located here are the Salvation Army and Assembly of God churches, a trailer court with young children, Haines Assisted Living, SAIL and REACH offices, and the borough maintenance yard (which was originally platted as a park).
We are Ground Zero for impacts due to the prospect of increased heavy truck traffic on Union Street, the Haines Highway, and Lutak Road. The fact is we all live very close to these roads, and significantly increasing trucking will impact everyone who lives in the Chilkat Valley. Safe Haines Highways has researched and produced a report which explains these in straightforward terms. We encourage all Haines residents to read at least the report summary, and consider even if you do not live along the truck route how its altered use will affect us and our town. Haines Borough officials have a responsibility to include us tax-paying principal stakeholders along this transportation corridor in all discussions of its future.
Paul Swift and Anne Boyce