A decades-old proposal to build a controversial road between Juneau and the communities of Haines and Skagway was put to rest in 2016.
But that just changed. The state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities unveiled plans last week to launch a new study to examine the feasibility of building a road – and other infrastructure – that it says could create more cost effective and reliable transportation for the region. It plans to pay a firm at least $1 million for the study, due at the end of the year.
According to agency spokesperson Sam Dapcevich, the road could help Haines residents get to Juneau and back in one day, reducing the need for mainliner ferries in the region.
“If you knock 14 hours or more out of the mainliner schedule on Lynn Canal, you can do a lot better for some of the other communities in southeast, while even improving the service to Haines and Skagway,” Dapcevich said.
Whether such a road would achieve those goals has been debated for decades.
The state has repeatedly studied and pitched proposals, including in the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s – and now.
This time, the state is looking at the west side of Lynn Canal. Supporters say the terrain on that side is less avalanche-prone than on the east side. They also say it would open more of Haines to recreation and provide a more reliable way to get to Juneau, which is only accessible by boat or airplane.
“In the years when we first came here, in the 70s, the ferry was dependable. It was very dependable, you could almost set your clocks by it,” said long-time Haines resident Jerry Lapp, a former mayor and assembly member who supports the road. “But it's become so undependable, in the winter time, you don’t know if you’re going to get to Juneau and back.”
Many see it differently. Critics have argued the road would be extremely costly to build and maintain, in part because each version that’s been proposed over the years would have required new bridges, ferry terminals and shuttles. State officials estimated that the version that died in 2016 would have cost upwards of $570 million.
That hasn’t changed this time around. Dapcevich, of the Transportation Department, said the new study will focus on a west-side road that would need a ferry across Lynn Canal near Juneau and bridge across the Chilkat River near Haines. Another possibility would be to extend the road further, roughly 25 miles past Haines, where it could connect with Chilkat Lake Road near Mosquito Lake. That route would require a bridge across the Tsirku River.
Maggie Rabb, the executive director of Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, said she’s interested to see the proposal.
“I'm very skeptical that they're going to learn anything new, other than the price has gone up significantly in the last decade, and the potential environmental impacts have not gone down,” Rabb said. “But we’ll spend money to confirm that, apparently.”
Others say the money put toward the study and potentially the road would be better spent on fixing the ferry system itself.
“The road that’s made out of water works year-round. And it costs us nothing to build, nothing to maintain, nothing to pave, nothing to plow,” said Haines Mayor Tom Morphet. “If you just stop and think about it for about 10 minutes, the economics become pretty clear.”
The state will accept bids through March 25 from consulting firms interested in conducting the study, according to an agency document.
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story did not include a second route the road could take.
