Assembly members and Mayor Tom Morphet are hoping to find out more about the multi-million dollar planned Porcupine Trail Road project at an informational meeting later this month.

This summer, the borough spent $1.4 million to restore the flood-damaged road that runs parallel to the Klehini River after Mile 26 of the Haines Highway.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, approved the project after the borough applied for funding following heavy rains and flooding in 2020. But FEMA put funding on hold in September after work was discovered during an August site visit that went beyond the original scope..

Since then, FEMA has been investigating the issue and working on rescoping the project. Originally, the project was meant to be completed in three phases, with this summer’s work aimed at restoring the road to its pre-flood condition. The next phase was planned to build a new road that bypasses the floodplain, and was ultimately planned to cost more than $10 million.

FEMA has said they are working with the borough to rescope the project to a single phase to make compliance easier and to align with its usual practices.

Morphet said in an interview the goal of the session is to “answer all the questions everyone has and get an update on where things stand.”

The session is one of three workshops the assembly has scheduled. The others are about property tax assessments on Nov. 2 and the Lutak Dock project, which has yet to be scheduled. He said the Porcupine Trail Road project is important for the new members to understand.

“Moving the road out of the floodplain is an enormous expense and we’re gonna inherit the maintenance on the road,” he said. “We want to know why all the effort was made there and see if that’s a priority for the new assembly.”

Morphet said he hoped FEMA officials would be able to attend to answer questions, along with the borough manager Annette Kreitzer.

The assembly workshop is scheduled for Nov. 16 at 5:30 p.m. and is open to the public.

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