Dalton Highway remains a challenge for truckers
cations, which can stretch the time needed for the transit to Deadhorse, at Prudhoe Bay, to 14 hours or more on a trip that should take 10 hours. This creates a problem because drivers must take rest stops after a certain number of hours and there are few places to pull off the road to take a break, Benson said. Coldfoot, north of the Yukon River, has facilities to rest, eat, refuel and do limited repairs, but there is nothing between Coldfoot and Deadhorse, at the northern end of road. Washouts are not infrequent, such as one near the Yukon River Bridge that closed the Dalton for days, Ben- son said. These issues delay deliveries and raise costs. There also are wide and heavy loads that are common on the Dalton with the new oil field developments on the North Slope. Field developers typically move oil process plant units in modules by truck and this caus - es traffic restrictions on the narrow road. It also requires pilot cars as es- corts because the Dalton is a public highway where these are required for wide loads. There also is a regular influx of tourists in summer. “Sometimes they don’t make the best decisions, such as stopping in the road to take pictures with an 80,000-pound truck barreling down on them,” Benson said. There are some specific, and no - torious, trouble spots for truckers on the Dalton. One is the “Beaver Slide,” south of Coldfoot, a long, 2-mile hill that creates a swampy mess of mud when it rains. “Drivers sometimes have to chain up to get through it,” Anderson said.
of mineral prospects and commercial development. New truck support and rest facilities like Coldfoot are badly needed, for example. But the faster access to new mate - rial sites is very important, Anderson said, not only in improving response to road maintenance needs but pro- viding better quality material that can better stand up to more intense sum- mer rains. Another manmade problem for the Dalton is simply limited resources. DOTPF’s budget for road maintenance is about $25 million a year, which is insufficient, said Jamie Benson, pres - ident of the Alaska Trucking Associ - ation. “Even twice that amount probably wouldn’t be enough,” Benson said. “DOTPF does a fantastic job with the resources they have. When there’s a problem, they are right on it. We fully support them.” The main issue is the state Leg- islature has been unable to provide enough funding. Almost all lawmak - ers understand the need, Benson said, but the money has to come from state general funds that must also sup- port schools, public safety and other services. In recent years, revenues to support the general fund have been constrained. Meanwhile, the rough condition of the road is taking a toll on drivers and equipment. Something as simple and routine as replacing a tire on a pickup truck can cost more than $1,000, Ben - son said. Tires for heavy equipment are much more expensive. Winter is typically the best time to drive the Dalton, but even then, ava- lanches can pose a significant safety risk. During the summer, the softer road beds require drivers to slow to as low as 5 miles per hour in some lo -
State control of TAPS corridor may aid improvements Things are challenging for truckers on the Dalton Highway, the 440-mile industrial road linking Interior Alaska with the North Slope. An increasing pattern of heavy rain is causing roadbed material to de- grade almost faster than state high- way crews can replace it. Also, thaw - ing permafrost is softening soil and causing slumping at certain points. Both the rain and permafrost thaw are consequences of Mother Nature. But some problems are manmade. Until recently, for example, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which controls federal land in the area, had applications for new mate - rial sites for gravel on a “slow-roll” with added requirements for envi - ronmental review. Material sites are needed for highway maintenance on the Dalton, which is still mostly a gravel road. State Department of Transpor - tation and Public Facilities (DOTPF) crews were having to work out of ex - isting sites, and in some cases were having to haul gravel as far as 100 miles, state Transportation Commis- sioner Ryan Anderson said. The good news is that the situation has shifted, Anderson said. The U.S. Department of the Inte - rior recently transferred lands along the pipeline corridor held by the BLM, which is part of the Interior Depart - ment, to the state of Alaska. The state has long sought ownership and con - trol of lands along the pipeline corri- dor to secure access for development
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