Haines Lutak Road Culverts, Catchment Basins, and Roadways Project
Official Project Name: HNS Lutak Road 00054 - DEC 20 SE PR
State Project No: SDRER00448
A project in the DOT&PF 2020 Storm Recovery Program
Figure 1. Project Vicinity Map
Figure 2. Project Locations
Project Overview
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) is repairing several sites damaged in the 2020 Storm in Haines, Alaska.
Purpose & Need
In December 2020, a week of record rainfall in Southeast Alaska led to widespread flooding and landslides in local communities. By the end of the storm, Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) roads in Juneau, Haines, Skagway, Hoonah, and Petersburg had sustained widespread damage. DOT&PF conducted immediate emergency repairs on numerous sites to address roadway damage, washed out culverts, filled drainage ditches, and landslides. Permanent repairs are required to rebuild Alaska’s infrastructure.
The purpose of this project is to repair infrastructure that was damaged by the December 2020 Storm event.
Project Description
The program to repair damages includes emergency and temporary repairs at 20 culverts and to the ditches and pavement along Lutak Road in Haines that experienced damage from the storm event.
Permanent repairs address damage affecting grading, drainage, paving, embankment, side slope stabilization, and pavement structure. Proposed typical sections generally match the existing road sections. There are no planned improvements to the road widths, grades, fore-slopes, ditches, or back-slopes at any locations included in this project. Changes or improvements to the existing roadway geometry are not within the project scope due to FEMA requirements that permanent repairs return the infrastructure to pre-storm conditions. Therefore, horizontal and vertical alignments will match their pre-storm event dimensions.
Lutak Road Mile Point (Mpt) 1.8 to 4.3 (Ditches)
Repairs on multiple sites between Mpt 1.8 and Mpt 4.3 include rebuilding and restabilizing the drainage ditch and grading the roadway shoulder where needed.
Lutak Road Mpt 2.3 to 5.05 (Pavement)
Repairs will fix over 20 locations with broken pavement and repair grading, drainage, and side slope structure.
Culvert Replacements
The repairs at each of the 20 corrugated metal culverts identified on Lutak Road between Mpt 0.42 and Mpt 4.19 will consist of replacing the existing cross culvert with a corrugated aluminum pipe of the same diameter. The culvert inverts will be retained, and the replacement culvert slopes are set at 0.5%. Fifty feet of pavement replacement and restriping has been included in the permanent repairs at each culvert location. Precast concrete headwalls and 10 cubic yards of riprap are included at each culvert inlet to facilitate future debris removal and add resiliency to the design.
Of the 20 culverts, the diameters are as follows:
- 9 culverts with 24-inch diameter at Mpts 0.52, 0.77, 1.36, 2.46, 3.14, 3.22, 3.40, 3.43, and 4.19,
- 2 culverts with 30-inch diameter at Mpts 2.53 and 2.70,
- 7 culverts with 36-inch diameter at Mpts 0.42, 1.70, 1.84, 2.91, 2.92, 3.27, and 3.32, and
- 2 culverts with 48-inch diameter at Mpts 2.42 and 3.19.
Project History
Lutak Road is a local road serving the community of Haines. The 2022 AADT was 370 vehicles per day (VPD) between the ferry terminal and Salmon Run Campground, 330 VPD between Salmon Run Campground and Chilkoot Lake Road, and 90 VPD between Chilkoot Lake Road and the end of the road.
Lutak Road Mpt 1.8 to 4.3 (Ditches)
This project location incurred damage to the ditches along the west side of Lutak Road at over 10 locations between Mpt 1.8 to Mpt 4.3. During the December 2020 storm event, a combination of rock slides and mudslides filled and blocked the drainage ditch in several areas with mud and debris.
Lutak Road Mpt 2.3 to 5.05 (Pavement)
Floodwaters and debris damaged the asphalt road and both shoulders at over 20 locations between Lutak Road Mpt 2.3 and Mpt 5.05. The road surface was also undermined in one location for 45 feet due to inundation with some locations requiring riprap stabilization of the embankments.
Culvert Damages
Twenty corrugated metal culverts along Lutak Road between Mpt 0.42 to Mpt 4.19 were damaged due to various combinations of floodwaters, mud slides, rock slides, debris, and emergency response actions. The storm’s rainfall resulted in heavy flooding along Lutak Road, which resulted in rock and mud slides and debris often crushing the culvert inlets or debris clogging the culvert. Some culvert outlets also incurred damages. Riprap was washed away from some culverts, and sections of pipes were lost to the floodwaters. DOT&PF staff slip lined some pipes as a temporary measure to restore flow and prevent additional embankment erosion.
Status
The project is currently in design, and plan sets are with FEMA for review of scope and fee. Construction is anticipated to occur in 2027.
Temporary Traffic Disruptions
The project will seek to keep one lane open throughout construction with the possible exception of short temporary closures for paving.
DOT&PF will coordinate with the Haines Borough to develop a traffic control plan that minimizes impacts to residents and businesses, particularly during the tourist season, and safely guides and protects the traveling public in work zones.
