State officials are looking toward the summer of 2022 for completing permanent repairs to the Dyea Road that connects Skagway to the former gold rush boomtown of Dyea to the west. The road suffered significant damage during last December’s atmospheric river rain event that hammered the Upper Lynn Canal with record precipitation. However, local officials and residents worry that waiting until next year for those repairs could lead to further complications.
The nine-mile gravel road links Skagway with the small community of Dyea which has a few dozen year-round residents. Michael Yee is one of them.
“Since there’s not that much traffic, it’s not too bad right now. But all it has to do is get one big rain, and then those problems are going to show up in it. And it’s bad again,” said Yee.
According to state officials, minor repairs like clearing brush and cleaning ditches are scheduled for this August. But the major fixes aren’t slated to begin until 2022.
“If they’re thinking like a normal business would be thinking, they’d be thinking, hey, let’s do it this year, it’s gonna cost us a lot less to do with this year than any other year because we’re not going to have to sit there and have, you know, the 15-minute openings constantly, we can shut it down for longer and get it done right,” said Yee.
Officials say there are 10 spots that will need significant work. These will need design consultation and will most likely be put out to bid for a contractor to complete. Federal emergency funds are expected to cover the costs which remain unknown. But Dyea residents like Saskia Racke wonder if the road will last till next summer without the major repairs.
“If we get another you know, week of rain or two weeks of rain where it’s really heavy, there’s a lot of stuff that’s going to slide out. Where they put the concrete divides on the edge of the road there, that’s going to come down it’s going to erode out. That one spot where the trees and the rocks are exposed, that’s probably going to come down,” said Racke.
The major repairs needed include embankment slope stabilization, slope scaling, rockfall mitigation, road resurfacing, and more. Right now the road is down to a single lane in multiple places. But these repairs will be needed before both lanes can be reopened in all sections.
Skagway’s Borough Manager Brad Ryan said he understands that state government agencies move on a slower timeline, but he hopes the local government and community get on board to pressure their state representatives to get the project completed this year.
“Obviously, we don’t believe that this year is going to be a big tourist year, but certainly in 2022 we’re hoping and anticipating that we’ll have a lot of tourism back here, and those one-lane passages are going to be challenging. So we would like the DOT to go forward and fix that as soon as possible. And certainly, before the 2022 cruise ship season starts,” said Ryan.
For now, residents will have to deal with the large potholes where the gravel road meets the paved portion near the Chilkoot Outpost Lodge. And they’ll have to be patient as washboards and washouts continue to plague the road to Dyea.
