KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
This month’s unusually warm weather is starting to affect local roads these days. This week the Alaska Department of Transportation implemented emergency weight restrictions on the Chiniak Highway and a portion of Rezanof Drive because unseasonal freezing and thawing is making the ground slightly unstable beneath roadways.
Jill Reese is the media liaison for the DOT’s central region and said the weight restrictions are 75 percent of the legal axle loads.
“Unfortunately until further notice.”
Reese said the weight limits won’t affect the average driver, and are intended more for commercial vehicles.
“It’s not the normal car, that’s no problem. This is commercial vehicles who register through our own weights and measures department here. So it’s commercial trucks who carry real heavy loads.”
A-1 Timber uses the Chiniak Highway multiple times daily to carry logging loads to from Chiniak to Womans Bay, but a spokesperson for A-1 declined to comment on how the weight restrictions might be affecting the company’s daily operations.
Reese said the freeze and thaw going on in Kodiak also might be affecting the general condition of some roads, which she said the department recognizes are already in poor shape.
“There is going to be some road work being done in the spring on several of the roads in Kodiak, so we realize that there are many roads that need repair, need upgrading, and the warm weather is just not doing them any favors.”
The weight restrictions are in place for the entire length of the Chiniak Highway and Rezanof Drive from the end at milepost 13.75 to the Coast Guard Base, milepost 10.1.
