Alaska Highway MP 1222-1235 Project

AGENCY SCOPING UPDATE - March 2006

This letter is an update to the scoping letter that was sent to your office on December 20, 2006 regarding the rehabilitation of the Alaska Highway from MP 1222 – 1235. In addition to the work detailed in the December 20th scoping letter, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) is also proposing the following work at the end of the project, near the U.S. Canadian Border Facilities (Figures 1 & 2 outline the additional work):

Repair multiple “bad spots” and resurface the portion of the Alaska Highway from MP 1222.0 to the U.S./Canadian border at approximately MP 1221.3.
Resurface the turnout immediately west of the U.S./Canadian border
Clean the existing culvert east of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Alcan Port of Entry

All of the additional work noted above is anticipated to stay within the existing embankments of the Alaska Highway and associated facilities.

The legal description of the area where the additional work would occur is: USGS Quad – Nabesna C-1, Copper River Meridian; T10N, R23E, Section 25.

A project website has been set up at www.pdcprojects.info to provide project information and a venue for comments. This website includes details of the project as initially scoped, in addition to the work noted above.

To ensure that all factors are considered in the Categorical Exclusion, your comments are requested within 30 days. If you have any questions regarding the project, please call our environmental consultant, Royce Conlon, at PDC Inc. Engineers, 452‑1414, or by email at royceconlon@pdceng.us . Comment letters can be sent to Ms. Conlon at 1028 Aurora Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99709.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF), in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), is seeking comments and information on a proposal to rehabilitate 13 miles of the Alaska Highway between Mileposts (MP) 1222.0 and 1235.0 (Figure 1). Legal Descriptions of the project area are listed below:

USGS Quad–Nabesna C-1 & D-1, Copper River Meridian
T10N, R23E, Sections 2‑4, 11, 13‑14, 24‑25
T11N, R23E, Sections 18‑19, 29‑30, 32‑33
T11N, R22E, Sections 1‑2, 12‑13
T12N, R22E, Sections 27

The Alaska Highway extends 1,390 miles between Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and Delta Junction, Alaska, and is the primary route for vehicular traffic between Alaska, Canada, and the Lower 48 states. The Alaska Highway was constructed in 1942 as a military supply route to Alaska during World War II. Today the highway is still used as a primary supply route for the trucking of goods in addition to being used by a growing number of tourists who travel the road primarily during the summer months.

The proposed project area begins 93 miles southeast of Tok, Alaska, at MP 1222, just west of the U.S. Customs building at the Alcan border station. The rehabilitation area continues for 13 miles to the northwest ending at MP 1235 (Figure 1).

The purpose of the project is to repair the deteriorated roadway. The proposed project will address the following deficiencies:

The pavement is generally in poor condition and frost heaves have left large buckles in the road surface.
Rockslides have occurred along the roadway at MP 1228.0 and MP 1229.1 and are blocking the ditch.
Damaged culverts provide poor drainage (listed on Figure 2)

Deep fill culverts at three locations require replacement.
Shallow fill culverts at 17 locations require total or partial replacements.
Approaches to the Seaton Roadhouse require culverts.
Two existing approach culverts require replacement.

The pullout at MP 1224.6 is undersized for the amount of tourist traffic in the summer and is in need of enlargement.
The approaches to the pullouts at MP 1233.0 (Old Alaska Highway) and MP 1234.1 and MP 1234.7 (Seaton Roadhouse) are at steep angles to the highway and limit sight distance.
The approaches to the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) visitor center at MP 1229.1 have tight corners, and are narrow making them difficult for larger motor homes to maneuver.

Rehabilitate problem areas and resurface the roadway from MP 1222.0 to MP 1235.0.
Remove material from along the road caused by the rockslides at MP 1228.0 and MP 1229.1, and provide required slope stabilization.
Improve drainage including (Figure 2):
- 13 total culvert replacements; 3 deep fill, and 10 shallow fill.

7 partial culvert replacements.
4 approach culverts; 2 of which are new and 2 of which are existing.

Construct pullout improvements including:

Expand and rehabilitate the pullout at MP 1224.6 (Figure 3).
Rehabilitate the pullout at MP 1233.0 (Figure 4).
Realign the pullout approaches at MP 1233.0, 1234.1, and 1234.7.
Improve the approach width and radii at the Tetlin NWR visitor center at MP 1229.1.

The proposed roadway rehabilitation and resurfacing work is anticipated to stay within the footprint of the existing embankment. Areas with frost heaves or severe pavement deterioration may require subexcavation to provide adequate structural sections for resurfacing.

Work related to expanding the pullouts, realigning pullout approaches, material removal of rockslides, and culvert replacement will take place outside the existing embankment toe, but will stay within the 300’ right-of-way. Work outside the embankment will likely include temporary stockpile of excavated materials.

To maintain traffic through the culvert replacement areas the roadway will be cut down until a backhoe can excavate the remaining material, while maintaining a half width roadway to allow traffic passage. Excavated material will be stockpiled within the existing ROW, adjacent to the roadway. The deep culvert excavations will require a larger area of involvement for the road to be cut down and for materials to be stockpiled, than will the shallow culvert excavations (Figure 2). The approximate area of involvement for the culvert replacements is shown on Figure 2.

At the request of the Tetlin NWR the project will include the expansion and rehabilitation of the highway pullouts at MP 1224.6 and MP 1233.0. This will be done to improve visitor access to the refuge interpretive sites at these locations. Width and turn radii improvements will be made to the pullouts at the Tetlin NWR visitor center at MP 1229.1 in order to accommodate larger motor homes. The project will also realign the approaches to the Old Alaska Highway pullout at MP 1233.0 and the Seaton Roadhouse pullouts at MP 1234.1 and MP 1234.7 in order to alleviate sight distance issues. The current approaches at MP 1233.0, 1234.1, and 1234.7 enter the Alaska Highway at a skew, and the realigned approaches will enter at an angle close to 90-degreees.

Material for this project will likely come from the existing Island Lake Quarry (MS 62-1-024-5) at MP 1230.6 (S30, T11N, R23E, Copper River Meridian) (Figure 5), as well as the Paradise Hill Quarry (MS 62-1-007-5) at MP 1238.0 (S27, T12N, R22E, Copper River Meridian) (Figure 6). Materials from these sites could come from any portion of the areas shown on Figures 5 and 6; however the entire area shown will not be mined solely for the purpose of this project. The contractor will be required to mine a single area to the extent practical rather than disturb a larger than necessary area.

This project is anticipated to qualify as a Categorical Exclusion under FHWA environmental guideline 23 CFR 771.117(d).

Preliminary research results of environmental resources in the project area are described in Appendix A. A project website has been set up at www.pdcprojects.info to provide project information and a venue for comments.

In addition to identifying any concerns and/or issues your agency might have with the proposed project, the links on the project website request agency-specific information. The website will take you to a list of questions specific to your agency’s purview and allow you to send comments directly to our environmental consultant via e-mail.

To ensure that all factors are considered in the Categorical Exclusion, your comments are requested within 30 days. If you have any questions regarding the project, please call our environmental consultant, Royce Conlon, P.E., at PDC, Inc. Engineers, (907) 452‑1414, or contact by email at royceconlon@pdceng.us. Comment letters can be sent to Ms. Conlon at 1028 Aurora Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99709.