Bobby Milnes, who’s in charge of snowplows on Canada’s side of the Haines Highway, says it’s snow and wind – not budget issues – that have caused this winter’s road closures.
For weeks at a time since December, plow drivers have abandoned efforts to keep open two lanes through Chilkat Pass, instead settling on pilot cars and scheduled convoys to get motorists through.
That’s not good news for Haines as an access route to Alaska. Combined with curtailed and irregular ferry service, the closures bode ill for through-traffic that’s helped sustain the town since the all-winter closure of the highway ended in 1963, when the state’s first ferry created a permanent marine-and-highway link from the Lower 48 to the Alaska mainland.
The winds are new, according to longtime residents living near the border. Historically, winds in the pass die down at night, slowly picking up during daylight hours before tapering again at dusk.
But in recent weeks, winds in the pass have blown around the clock. That means plow drivers are starting new every day, moving snow each morning that they moved yesterday, and not keeping up.
If the conditions are a pattern of climate change, either the Yukon and British Columbia governments will pay more for plowing or the Haines Highway will be closed more often, meaning less road traffic and less commerce through our town.
Here’s an example of lost commerce. My wife and I have been participating in Skagway’s Buckwheat Ski Classic for the better part of 20 years. But we scratched this year after road closures cast doubt on whether we could drive down the Haines Highway Sunday.
We might have been able to return to Haines from Skagway on Sunday’s ferry, but the return voyage to Haines also was cancelled. Because of the ferry cancellation, a couple we know also scratched their trip.
The loss of two couples not making it to Skagway for the weekend was at least $1,000 that would have been spent there and at lodges and restaurants between there and Haines. How many other trips have been delayed or scratched due to unreliable ferry service or unpredictable road closures in recent months?
What will happen if Gov. Dunleavy goes ahead with plans to move the Juneau ferry terminal 30 miles north to Cascade Point, a change that would make ferry travel in Lynn Canal even more challenging?
In his first budget, Dunleavy penciled in a “0” for the marine highway budget.
High air fares charged by our monopoly airline make the transportation picture even more bleak.
The Haines tourism department or Haines Economic Development Corporation should be studying numbers of travelers up and down the highway, charting them and making recommendations accordingly. Perhaps the McKinley Research Group (formerly McDowell) can nail down some accurate, cumulative numbers on what’s happening throughout the region.
This much seems clear: Our town, a transportation hub, is losing transportation access. From delayed commerce, to lost tourism opportunities between towns, to lost days for stranded travelers, the losses are financial, and they’re substantial.
They will change the demographics of our town for the worse. As access becomes more difficult, our town becomes more of an island. Fewer people choose to live on islands because island life is expensive and inconvenient.