Business worried that road closure misunderstanding is driving away customers

In early June, flood-swollen North Pine Creek destroyed a 500-foot section of the Wallowa Mountain Loop Road north of Highway 86.

The Loop Road, also known as Forest Road 39, connects Highway 86 with Wallowa County.

A reader board at the Interstate 84 and Highway 86 junction in north Baker City reads “Forest Road 39 Closed 60 Miles Ahead.”

The dilemma, said Debi Bainter of the Baker Chamber of Commerce, is the possibility that some travelers, on seeing the reader board, assume that Highway 86, which leads to Oxbow and Hells Canyon Dam, is closed.

But if travelers turn back after mistaking the message on that reader board, then businesses in eastern Baker County will lose potential customers.

“There has been some confusion among locals,” Bainter said. “Getting accurate information to locals is difficult because there is no local TV station, no radio and the newspaper only publishes three times a week.”

She said the misunderstanding starts at the reader board.

“Most people driving by only see ‘Road Closed 60 Miles Ahead,’ ” she said. “The Hells Canyon Dam is 93 miles from Baker.”

Brandie Lincoln of Hells Canyon Adventures, which runs boat tours on the Snake River below Hells Canyon Dam, said the business has had major cancellations from groups planning whitewater rafting trips.

“People have been misinformed,” Lincoln said. “The reader board in Baker City is misleading and it is costing us.”

Lincoln declined to say how many cancelations she has had since news spread of the Road 39 closure.

Later in the summer drivers will be able to bypass that closure by way of Forest Road 66, which runs from near Halfway and passes Fish Lake, although that gravel route is not suited for motor homes or large travel trailers, said Judy Wing, public affairs officer for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.

Bainter emphasized that all businesses in the area are open, as is the paved road to Hells Canyon Dam.

“It is all navigable and all ready to use,” she said.

On June 23 the U.S. Department of Transportation allocated $3.2 million to repair Road 39. Work is scheduled to start this month; however, because of the extent of the damage, the road will not be available for use until summer 2011.

For a map of the road closures and to find alternate routes go to www.fs.fed.us/r6/w-w/