State applies to corps for Dalton upgrades

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers posted a public notice July 13 regarding an application from the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to make improvements to the Dalton Highway. The public comment period ends Aug. 11.

DOT&PF is asking to reconstruct the Dalton Highway between Milepost 209 and 222, and develop two material sites at Milepost 224 and MP 210 by “widening, resurfacing, raising grade, brush cutting, and repairing drainage along the roadway.”

The work is necessary, the notice said, because of the “consistent and relatively high-volume, heavy truck traffic and the effects of permafrost on the highway, roadway surface and drainage improvements are needed to continue to provide ground transportation to the North Slope.”

It’s also needed to relocate a portion of the Dalton Highway away from a frozen debris lobe near MP 218.5.

A slow-moving landslide of soil, rock, trees, and ice on a permafrost-impacted slope is moving toward the Dalton, and could reach it in nine years, the corps said.

Moving a portion of the road away from the lobe would protect the Dalton for at least 20 years.

DOT&PF wants to place 91,500 cubic yards of fill, permanently impacting 25 acres of wetlands and 32.5 acres of temporary wetland fill during reconstruction.

Approximately three acres of permanent and 2.5 acres of temporary wetland impacts would be the result at the material site and access road at MP 210.

The public notice and its attachments can be found at http://www.poa.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/PublicNotices.aspx Project manager John Sargent can be reached by email at [email protected]

- KAY CASHMAN