Stay off shoulder of Alaska Highway

[sue_t]

Again we encountered a motorhome close to tipping over on the shoulder of the Alaska Highway, yesterday. Fortunately, they were able to be pulled out upright by another motorist.

I chatted with the couple from California. She said the lesson learned is to only pull over into rest areas and constructed pullouts. She was very worried that their RV was going to sink and flip into the ditch. They had disconnected their toad and were working to stabilize things as much as possible.

They were northbound to Alaska between Whitehorse and Haines Junction, we've had a lot of rain this summer and they pulled over on a section that looked solid but the right side of the motorhome sunk into the ground. I see this a few times a year when cruising around.

Please don't pull over onto the shoulder of the highways up here. Stay on the paved portion of the highway - do NOT let your wheels roll onto the dirt. Along the Haines Hwy things might look solid but if you walk the ditches you'll see areas where the ground squirrels tunnel under the pavement, making the shoulder unstable too!

[partsman01]

Very good info, the voice of experience on this topic.
I have run into soft shoulders here in BC, so makes sense up north has the same problem.

[time2roll]

Did that once in NV to switch drivers as I was falling asleep at 4am. Snow on the shoulder and down in the ditch we went. Took an hour of wrangling to get back on the pavement. By then I was wide awake and drove on :R

[pyoung47]

Yesterday, a few miles south of the Tatogga Lodge on the Cassiar, we passed a motorhome and toad on its side over the bank. Luckily, he didn't go over in some of the stretches that there would be no good recovery. There were red flags affixed to the vehicles, so we didn't stop. I hope those folks are OK, but it made me a very careful driver the rest of the day.

[TenOC]

I got stuck in NS with my TT [COLOR=]on the gravel shoulder the same way. After the ground thaws in the spring the shoulders are VERY soft.

[turbojimmy]

sue.t wrote:
Please don't pull over onto the shoulder of the highways up here. Stay on the paved portion of the highway - do NOT let your wheels roll onto the dirt. Along the Haines Hwy things might look solid but if you walk the ditches you'll see areas where the ground squirrels tunnel under the pavement, making the shoulder unstable too!

That's good advice pretty much everywhere. A car might be able to get away with it, but a heavy motorhome not so much. Thankfully I've never had a situation where I had to pull over where there wasn't enough shoulder (knocking on wood). And while I'm at it, pulling over for any reason other than an emergency is a no-no. We had a guy killed over the July 4 weekend that had pulled over to adjust the bikes on the back of his 'Yota. Got hit by a Buick. Killed instantly. And the bassist for Adrenaline Mob was killed yesterday when they pulled their bus over because of a flat. Hit by a tractor trailer.