Juneau will be a boomtown today.
Between 9 a.m. and noon, residents in Douglas, West Juneau, Thane Road and downtown Juneau will hear a series of explosions as the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities fires a howitzer into the avalanche zone above Thane Road.
“People should be prepared for some loud booms,” said Jeremy Woodrow, a spokesman for the department. “It echoes pretty well downtown.”
Thane Road will be closed at the avalanche gates while the blasting takes place, and traffic will be stopped. Hikers and walkers also will be blocked from accessing the howitzer’s firing location, the concrete pad uphill of the Treadwell Mine cave-in.
The howitzer is on permanent loan from the U.S. Army to the DOT, Woodrow said, and Thursday’s firing is more about training for state employees than actual snow removal.
“There really isn’t that much snow up top,” Woodrow said. “We have to get a certain amount of shots fired every year to keep our personnel certified.”
Woodrow said the department doesn’t expect the howitzer to create any significant avalanches or bring a significant amount of snow onto the road, but snow-removal equipment will be on standby as a precaution.
Woodrow said “more than a handful” of shots will be fired in the three-hour window, launched from the Treadwell Mine historic district, across Gastineau Channel and into Mount Roberts above Thane Road.
Avalanche blasting isn’t unusual in Juneau, but the past few winters have lacked significant snowfall, meaning it hasn’t been needed at Thane recently.
