By Marc Donadieu
Glacier City Gazette
The snow on Whittier’s Shotgun Cove Road exceeds the guardrail. At least one person attempted to drive the road recently.
At over 15 years in the making, Whittier’s Shotgun Cove Road Project is poised to take the next big steps this spring and summer. The project is at the top of the city’s priority list, and city council is looking for funds to keep the project moving forward. The city hopes for continued federal support because the road will connect to Forest Service land. Eventually a visitor center may get built there. However, the road must to be constructed first, and nobody knows when it might happen.
Shotgun Cove Road is currently built out to the Second Salmon Run. This past fall, the culvert bridge over the Second Salmon Run was almost completed, which would be an important milestone. This location is the beginning of lands that were given to the city from the state with some provisions. Whittier Mayor Daniel Blair was happy to see the progress.
“From someone that has been here for a while,” Blair said, “it’s really the only improvement I’ve seen, and I’m glad to see that happen. The completion of the bridge is anticipated this spring and we hope to begin the next phase, which is the environmental study showing what types of land we are going to be crossing. There will be some wetlands the next part of the run will cross. That’s not surprising because it’s rainforest.”
The environmental study will identify what land is suitable for new housing and the best location for extending Shotgun Cove Road and building it to highway standards, which requires more land than a pioneer road would. Because Whittier doesn’t have a lot of flat land to use for residential housing, the road will be placed to maximize the number of available lots. An estimate is expected this summer.
The road traverses mountainous terrain with flat spots, which become wetlands in rainforests because that is where water readily pools. The road plans will mitigate natural impacts while plotting a road out to Emerald Cove. At that point, Chugach National Forest will be able to access their land on Trinity Point, and they have indicated interest in putting a visitor center there sometime in the future.
Another stakeholder in the project is Chugach Alaska Corporation. The road crosses through a piece of their land after the first bridge, and they own land around Shotgun Cove. This developing project will allow them travel to their lands by a much easier route.
“The reason why they gave us access to that is because they have land in Shotgun Cove,” Blair said, “and they would like to get access to that. In good faith, Chugach Alaska Corporation allowed us access to their land to build across it. The community should continue forward on the road to reach Emerald Cove. Right now, no one gets to benefit because it doesn’t reach much of our land, and it doesn’t get any closer to their land.”
The Gazette contacted Chugach Alaska Corporation and submitted a list of ten questions via email as requested. CEO Gabriel Kompkoff was on a personal vacation and issued the following statement in response to the questions.
“Central to Chugach Alaska Corporation’s mission is a commitment to deliver sustainable benefits to our 2,500 shareholders. Managing our lands, businesses and assets responsibly is key to continuing to provide shareholder value. Part of that responsibility includes understanding what economic benefits our land can provide. We believe the Shotgun Cove road project will stimulate the local economy by creating new avenues for growth, development and job opportunities within the region. Chugach supports the City of Whittier’s plan to extend the road, and is working closely with the City, U.S. Forest Service, and Federal Highway Administration to see this project through to fruition.”
Developing Shotgun Cove Road offers Whittier a number of exciting economic opportunities not currently available. Since much of Whittier is built on an old Army base, there is the potential to find contamination because of hazardous materials improperly disposed according to modern standards. Developing the city to the east would put housing on land that is not affected by contamination.
Another potential opportunity would be to build a harbor in Emerald Cove, which would alleviate some of the demand for boat slips in the current harbor. With more space, commercial fishermen would have more room to work when returning with their catch.
“Emerald Cove will potentially offer us some more opportunities to put either a private harbor or maybe expand the number of slips that we have,” Blair said. “We haven’t gotten there yet, but we’re hoping to. Right now we don’t have enough boat slips to accommodate all the people who want to put boats in Whittier. One of the things about having this road extended out to Emerald Cove is it may open up opportunities to provide additional boat slips and help the commercial fishermen access wharf-age opportunities. Right now, they’re having trouble getting fish off-loaded. There isn’t enough space in the areas we have.”
When you consider the state’s current economic climate, it may take another 15 years to get this project completed. The city is actively looking to keep federal funding sources while also looking for other financial sources to keep extending the road out of the city and toward Shotgun Cove. The project’s next step is completing the environmental study in the spring.