Rains playing havoc with Taylor, Dempster arteries
The Whitehorse Daily Star
Mon Jul 26 2010
The Taylor Highway has been closed again because of washouts caused by heavy rains, and a disaster declaration for the area is expected from Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell.
With another closure of the Taylor, highway travellers are unable to use the Yukon's Top of the World Highway to travel from Dawson City into Alaska, and vice-versa.
The Dempster Highway was also closed over the weekend because of excessive rainfall and road washouts between kilometres 236 and 242, Jennifer Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the territorial highways branch, said this morning.
She said the Dempster was closed Friday night, reopened Saturday and was closed again Sunday.
"Then it was opened this morning to single-lane traffic," Magnuson said. "The Ogilvie River has been flooding and water is seeping out wherever it can."
Magnuson said the Dempster is being hit by the same system of excessive rain that's been soaking the eastern half of the Alaska.
There are signs in Dawson telling travellers the Taylor Highway is again impassible, and all the visitor information centres are being kept apprised of the situation, she said.
Spokeswoman Meadow Bailey of Alaska's Department of Transportation said this morning from Anchorage the governor is expected to make the disaster declaration Tuesday.
"It means you are eligible for federal funding, and it makes it easier to bring procurement of contracts faster," she said.
Bailey said that rather than waiting the regular couple of weeks before the state issues work contracts, the declaration allows for fast-tracking the purchase of services.
"We have contractors up there but this would allow us to reinforce the help we have already."
The Taylor Highway opened last week to the Top of the World Highway after having been closed for the previous week because of washouts, though the section into Eagle, Alaska never reopened, and still remains closed .
The section linking the Taylor to the Top the World closed again at 8:30 a.m. Friday, and repair crews were actually pulled back over the weekend, Bailey said.
The crews, she pointed out, have been going flat-out to begin with, and with weather conditions not improving, it was decided to pull them back.
"It was counterproductive for us to try and make repairs that were being washed away," Bailey said.
There's no estimate regarding when the link between the Yukon and Alaska might re-open, she added.
Meanwhile, the persistent rainfall has also forced the suspension of the search for a U.S. border security officer whose SUV was located in the middle of a flooding creek about 60 metres down an embankment off the Taylor Highway.
"We were concerned the conditions were putting our searchers in danger," Beth Ipsen, a spokeswoman for the Alaska State Troopers, said this morning from Anchorage.
She said the Department of Homeland Security, the department responsible for border guards, has at least one tracking dog on the search.
In mid-July, the troopers received a report of tire tracks leaving the Taylor Highway.
The vehicle belonging to Charles Collins was removed last week from O'Brien Creek, along the stretch of highway leading into Eagle.
Road washouts crimping tourism season
The Whitehorse Daily Star
Mon Jul 26 2010
DAWSON CITY - The week-long closure of the Taylor Highway brought a temporary halt to what many in Dawson had been calling a very good season.
"The reports we're hearing from our corporate members are that visitation is up and they are having a year that is good, and better than last year," said Gary Parker, executive director of the Klondike Visitors Association (KVA).
He was interviewed before the road was closed again Friday due to extensive rain and the threat of a flood warning. The closure applies to the Taylor Highway leading to Eagle, Alaska and Boundary Spur leading to the Canadian border. (See separate story below.)
Prior to the first road closure, the summer had been "incredibly good" for the operators at Bonanza Gold Hotel and RV Park.
"We'd been having an excellent summer up to that point," said Sarah Lenart.
At the downtown site of Goldrush Campground, Pat and Diane Brooks felt the same.
"We were phenomenal this year," said Pat Brooks. "I think we were heading for a record year, and then, all of a sudden, it just came to a crashing halt. We understand that people have to make decisions based on ... being able to get through a road."
At the Visitor Information Centre on Front Street, Peggy Amendola had been hearing the same story.
"Before the road closure, everyone was having a very good summer."
Parts of the Taylor Highway between Tok and the U.S. border and on to Eagle washed out and the road was first closed on July 11.
That shutdown lasted a week, but there were some announcements that used words like "indefinite" and "indeterminate", and those words had a immediate effect.
"As soon as they announced it was to be an indeterminate length of time, the place just flushed out," Lenart said.
Bonanza Gold lost two caravan groups who were planning to come to Dawson.
"The first caravan we lost was in Tok at the time and had been going to come over the next day," Lenart said. "The other one was not due to arrive until July 23, but they cancelled in advance when the news got out."
Goldrush lost a caravan group as well, though Brooks thinks they might come in from the other direction later in the summer.
"There was, certainly, some effect in town here," Parker said. "One of the things that makes Dawson attractive is the ability to do a circle route from either direction, and without the Top of the World/Taylor ability, that leg makes it kind of a one way trip.
"The RV groups that are travelling together and are booked well ahead, knowing where they're going to be every night, that have to make their plans ahead of time, are effected," Parker added.
"In the initial flutter, we probably dropped about 75 per cent for a short period of time," said Brooks.
His spots started filling up quickly once the road was open again, he added.
Said Parker: "If there was such a thing as good timing for a highway closure, it's probably that the brunt of it occurred during the (Dawson City) music festival and freed up some space that had been booked solid."
Once the road reopened, the campsites started filling up quickly.
Some people just want to come to Dawson any way, so the Brooks saw several travellers who chose to drive from Tok back to Whitehorse, then reach Dawson via the North Klondike Highway when the loop wasn't available.
Once the road reopened, Brooks said, travellers began to come in saying they didn't see a problem there any more, in spite of the continued drizzle and sometimes heavy rain.
Amendola said that both the Yukon government and the KVA had been very proactive in getting the word out that the route was open again, as shortlived as that proved.
At first, vehicles were led through, but by last Thursday, Parker said, people were travelling the route without a pilot car guiding them.
Road damage is declared a state disaster
Anchorage Daily News
Mon Jul 26 2010
TAYLOR HIGHWAY -- Gov. Sean Parnell has declared the washout of portions of the Taylor Highway in the eastern Interior a state disaster.
His office says the state will use or seek federal funds for costs associated with responding to the emergency, repairing infrastructure and taking steps to avoid recurring problems.
The state Department of Transportation estimated at least $6 million in damages after heavy rains this month caused landslides and washouts on parts of the 161-mile road from the Alaska Highway near Tok north to Eagle.
State again closes stretch of storm-damaged Taylor Highway
Anchorage Daily News
Fri Jul 23 2010
The state today closed part of the Taylor Highway again because heavy rains and washouts have made it impassable, the Department of Transportation said.
The Taylor Highway now is closed from Mile 67 at Chicken to Mile 161 at Eagle, the department said.
The mostly gravel road runs north from the Alaska Highway near Tok to Eagle on the Yukon River. At about Mile 95, a spur road runs east to Dawson, Yukon Territory.
Mudslides and washouts closed the road initially on July 12, stranding up to 30 motorists, all of whom since have been able to drive out if they wanted to, the state said. The vehicle of an Eagle River man was found in a creek on July 13, and the man has been missing since.
Monday, the state reopened the highway to Mile 95, providing that link between the Alaska Highway and Dawson.
But as of 8:45 a.m. Friday, only the first 67 miles of the road are open, the department said.
"It is undetermined at this time when the road will reopen," the department said.
