State still fails to press Kinross on whether its trucks can safely cross Chena Hot Springs Road roundabout

Months have passed without the Dunleavy administration pressing Kinross for answers on whether its 95-foot ore-hauling trucks will be able to use the roundabout on Chena Hot Springs Road.

Based on a computer model, there is just enough room to allow a theoretical truck to squeeze by at slow speed, a state consultant says. The theory makes no allowance for snow, ice or operator error.

Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson, a political appointee of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, should end the stonewalling on this and the other issues created by the Kinross plan. A simple phone call would do the trick.

Dunleavy has made it clear he wants the department to support the Kinross project, which has led to a failure to submit the project to diligent examination.

We know that the Kinross trucks will be too heavy to use the Steese Highway bridge over Chena Hot Springs Road. The trucks will bypass the bridge by getting off the Steese and using the off-ramp, crossing Chena Hot Springs and using the on-ramp to continue heading north.

There are two ways to cross Chena Hot Springs Road. One is to use the roundabout that was installed three years ago. The other way is to use the straight bypass lane, which has hand-operated gates, to cross the road.

The bypass lane was installed for large vehicles, such as the 95-foot Kinross trucks.

Kinross does not want to use the straight bypass lanes and would prefer to use the roundabout, which was designed for shorter vehicles.

Using the roundabout would mean that no one would have to stop traffic to raise and lower the gates by hand. And Kinross would not have pilot cars and flagmen stationed there 24 hours a day for years.

The computer models from a state consultant show that, in theory, the Kinross trucks will be able to use the roundabout—just barely and if there is no snow piled on the “truck apron” that is part of the circle.

In July, the state consultant on the Tetlin corridor said no one had actually tested the roundabout to see if the trucks can make the turn. On Thursday, the state consultant repeated that statement, even though Kinross already has its trucks on the road.

The consultant presented the drawing below, as it did in July, to show that the trucks can theoretically squeeze through the intersection. The truck apron is designed to allow truck tires to pass over it.

“This will have to be verified with field testing,” the consultant said Thursday, repeating a statement made in July.

In theory, the DOTPF commissioner could get this resolved today, if he decided to do so.

A related issue is that the cost for snow removal will be higher, in theory, if the state decides that the trucks should use the roundabout. Instead of piling snow on the truck apron, the state will have to clear the apron to the edge of the rocks to benefit Kinross. There is no estimate on the cost of increasing maintenance in winter or how it would be paid for.

The consultant says that if the Kinross trucks cannot squeeze through the roundabout, the state could reduce the size of the pile of rocks in the middle of the circle or change the curbs to benefit Kinross. The construction cost is unknown, but is “likely less than $250,000.”
Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673.

This is the computer drawing submitted by a state consultant in July and again on Thursday that says the Kinross trucks can theoretically navigate the roundabout at Chena Hot Springs Road without hitting the rocks in the inner circle.