Print article A Dunleavy administration proposal to allow off-road vehicles on Alaska’s roads is raising safety and enforcement questions in the state’s more populous areas even as its origins remain hazy. Right now, state law only allows off-road vehicles to cross roads. The proposed policy would change existing regulations to allow four-wheelers, snowmachines and “all-purpose vehicles” on roadways with limits of 45 mph or less a broad category that includes some of the busier roads in many communities. Anyone riding on the road would need to be licensed, registered and insured, state officials said this week. They’d also need lights, brakes and a working muffler.
5 5 Earthquake Felt Across Interior, SouthCentral kuac.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kuac.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Print article While unmitigated government boobism seems de rigueur nowadays, somebody in the administration of Gov. Michael Dunleavy is proposing ATVs, snowmachines and “all-purpose vehicles” be allowed on public roads with speed limits up to 45 mph, further raising the bar on nitwittery. To compound this crime against good sense, news reports say the administration refuses to identify the idea’s author, the agency seeking it or the whozits and whatzits involved. There apparently was little-to-no analysis offered and apparently there were no consultations with knowledgeable interested groups and communities ahead of time. The news media? They dutifully reported the administration’s refusal to disclose and then, crickets.
Credit Google Earth
Last month was the wettest March in Bristol Bay in 54 years. The weather station in King Salmon reported 2.17 inches of precipitation last month. It’s also the fourth highest amount on record around the Bering Sea for this time of year.
The 30 year average amount of precipitation is usually around 0.7 inches according to data collected by the weather station, making last March over three times the norm.
Precipitation is measured by melting snow combined with the amount of rainfall. Rick Thoman, a climate specialist with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, says five years of reduced sea ice led to a barrage of rain and snow along the Bering Sea.
Updated at 4:15 p.m.
A Thursday morning earthquake near Cantwell that measured a magnitude 5.5 was felt as far south as Anchorage and as far north as Fairbanks. It was the biggest earthquake recorded in that area in nearly 20 years.
The quake occurred at 9:10 a.m. about 17 miles southeast of Cantwell in the Alaska Range, and it was a deep one, about 78 kilometers, or a little more than 48 miles. That depth is what prevented significant damage from occurring, according to a seismologist with the Alaska Earthquake Center. There have been no reports of damage.
âThe nice thing when itâs a little deeper is they disperse the energy coming from it,â seismologist Jana Pursley said. âThose bigger ones, right below the surface, less than 10 kilometers, cause damage.â