Ocean View/Lutak Road Slope Movement

Roc Ahrens, Haines Borough Command Center Planner, for the Ocean View/Lutak Road Slope Movement will be posting daily updates on the Haines Borough website. Roc is in daily contact with authorities, coordinating and tracking activities out of his office on the second floor of the Public Safety Building.

Thursday, January 19, Roc described the situation as follows:

State, Borough & Engineering officials have been monitoring & accessing the slope movement occurring in the Ocean View hillside and Lutak Road highway since it was brought to their attention Monday, January 16, 2012.

A geologist and engineers for the State of Alaska DOT arrived on Wednesday, January 18, 2012, to look at the area and gather field data of the impact to Lutak Road which is the State highway from town to the ferry terminal at 5 mile Lutak Road.

Borough officials have been onsite assessing the scope of the problem since it was brought to their attention Monday morning. The Borough brought in an engineer from Seattle from their contracted engineering firm PND to look at the area, and advise the Borough on proper monitoring and planning for the event the situation worsens.

A Command Center was set up in Brian Lemcke’s office (Director of Public Works) office on Thursday afternoon, January 19, 2012 to monitor the event and plan for “Back‐up” options if needed. Local disaster planner Roc Ahrens has been brought on board to monitor and record the event. A daily report will be recorded at the command center on the contact phone there, (766‐2258), and will also be posted to the Borough’s website under the link “OCEAN VIEW / LUTAK ROAD SLOPE MOVEMENT”.

Daily monitoring is being recorded and State & Borough maintenance crews are planning repairs to the road damage on Lutak and Ocean View roads which they plan to begin tomorrow morning, Friday January 20, 2012.

Travelers through this area are advised to drive slowly due to the bumps the damage is causing.

The update for Friday, January 20 suggests that Lutak residents may want to consider preparing for some disruption to the road link to town:

Monitoring of the active zone involving utility services and road access to the homes on Ocean View Drive continue to show slow daily movement. Work conducted by the Haines Borough Maintenance Crew today filled the areas of damage most likely to impact access.

Lutak Road is still passable, but continues to shift downhill, with cracks, dips & humps that increase daily. Residence in these areas should consider a couple days of food back‐up, and make sure your fuel supply tanks are not critically low, in case of a road disruption that could last up to a couple days.

Thursday, the family living in the house impacted by the slope movement was safely moved, along with all their household goods, to another dwelling, thanks to many, many willing helping hands. Thank you.