As a woman seriously injured by falling ice on the Seward Highway recovers in the hospital, state road officials say they are learning more about what happened.
Amanda Lawton, a labor and delivery nurse, remains in serious condition at Providence Alaska Medical Center. She was injured April 6 when a big piece of ice broke away from a rocky cliff and crushed her pickup, trapping her. Police said she suffered head injuries. Her family says they expect she will fully recover.
The state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is investigating what happened and whether its procedures should be revamped to reduce the dangers of falling ice. The DOT routinely sets off avalanches with a cannon device to prevent snow slides from ramming vehicles but has no procedure for forcing ice to fall because as far as officials know, ice has never caused such damage before.
The DOT is checking with the U.S. Forest Service National Avalanche Center to see if other states have had similar problems, said Randy Vanderwood, chief of maintenance and operations for DOT's central region.
When DOT officials first explained what happened earlier this week, they hadn't yet talked to road crews but now have done so.
The slab that hit Lawton's truck around 4:30 p.m. is believed to have been sturdier and bigger than what normally falls and it also struck the ground differently, Vanderwood said.
Usually, the ice sheds almost straight down, ending up in a roadside ditch designed to catch it. Earlier on April 6, ice fell into the ditch and some spilled over onto the highway.
Police alerted DOT of the hazard around 1:30 p.m., Vanderwood said. Some of those chunks were big, not the softball-sized pieces that he and other DOT officials on Monday said are common.
DOT dispatched a sander-plow -- with a big plow on the front, a belly blade underneath and a sander on the back. But there was too much ice for it. So DOT sent a front-end loader crew and flaggers, who got there around 2:30 p.m. Crews cleared out the ditch to make room for more ice and cleared the road. By 3:30 p.m., they were done.
The second ice slab must have hit the ground and tottered into the roadway instead of shattering in place, Vanderwood said. The ice wall itself was not unusually big, he said.
The giant, accessible ice wall is popular with local climbers, who call it Roadside Attraction. But they stopped climbing it a few weeks ago because of warming conditions and deteriorating ice, said Tim Silvers, Mountaineering Club of Alaska president.
A fund has been set up at Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union to help with Lawton's medical bills. People can write checks to "Help Amanda Auffrey Lawton," with account No. 136542 in the notes section. Friends also are selling silicone bracelets. People who want to help can find out more at www.facebook.com/HelpAmanda.
Lawton is from Massachusetts. Her parents and sisters flew in after the accident and her husband's parents and brother came as well. The family on Thursday thanked all who have helped: the community, passersby who rendered aid when she was trapped, firefighters who freed her, the Providence staff.
"We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of support," the family said in a written statement. "Amanda continues to improve, and we are hopeful she will recover fully. Thank you to our new Alaska family and to our Guardian Angels."
By LISA DEMER
Anchorage Daily News