A group of Haines residents has formed to study potential road safety and traffic issues.
Its members hope to be included in official discussions and give input on relevant grants.
There is lots of talk about a potential mine up the road from Haines, and what its impact would be on the community. This winter some residents formed a group to try to quantify that impact, and contribute to the conversation.
Jurewitz: “It’s all people that were concerned mainly about possible increased heavy truck traffic along the Haines Highway, and down union street and down to the Lutak dock.”
Bill Jurewitz is a spokesperson for this new group, Safe Haines Highway.
Jurewitz: “It was formed to see what we could do to mitigate consequences,and was also formed to get some idea of what we might be facing.”
To get a concrete idea of what kind of traffic flow a mine or an ore transfer station would bring to Haines, the group hired an Anchorage engineering firm to do a traffic analysis. The firm completed the document in April.
It includes tables showing the amount of truck traffic each mine could bring. For example, it estimates the Palmer project could increase daily traffic through town with between 20 and 34 heavy truck trips, depending on how long the active work season is at the mine. The report uses numbers from an analysis of the mine’s Preliminary Economic Assessment to arrive at its conclusions.
The same tables show that if Haines becomes a destination for ore trucks from mines in the Yukon, the number of trips would be multiplied.
The report also references studies of the effects of highway noise and particulate pollution on nearby residents.
Jurewitz says he hopes Safe Haines Highway will participate in future official discussions about road safety. The borough is currently working towards applying for Safe Street Grants, a federal program.
A borough official said she had heard of Safe Haines Highways, but had not seen the report yet.
