www.AlaskaAlliance.com 33 Despite his iron work ethic, Haugen’s learning curve on the project was steep—in his book, he describes it as a “baptism by fire” into project management. “Because of the cumulative total of camp reconstruction, haul road construction, and other activities underway, I quickly came to realize that I was not going to be able to interject myself into every issue and still survive the project,” Haugen writes in Chapter 5 of his book, which focuses on haul road construction. Haugen developed a management style that focused on the issues and tasks within his control, both on the haul road construction and in later projects. “It was a real revelation because it was the first time I ever encountered something with that magnitude and had the recognition that you can’t solve everyone else’s problems,” Haugen said. The Project Management Institute (PMI), established in 1969, was nascent during the Trans-Alaska pipeline project. For Haugen, that meant “there was no guidebook in front of us at that time. We were just having to do what made the most sense.” Now, many of Alyeska’s management techniques during the project have become part of PMI’s official procedures. Haugen touches on these cornerstones of project management in the last chapter of his book. Haugen’s keen management and the rapid pace of work paid off — the 358-mile road was completed in just 154 days, on Sept. 29, 1974. Due to bad weather at the South Fork of the Koyukuk River, where the road was completed, Haugen listened to the completion of the road over a broadcast in Fairbanks. This fall, Haugen plans to attend a celebration in Fairbanks that marks the 50th anniversary of completion of the road. The pop-up exhibition is a project of the Alaska Oil & Gas Historical Society, of which Haugen is a board member. The society aims to educate Alaskans — especially young Alaskans — about the state’s history of oil and gas. “When Dad cashes the permanent fund dividend check, how did that actually get done? What’s behind that? Unfortunately, when you ask that question to most people in Alaska, they don’t know the story because it happened a long time ago,” Haugen said. For now, Haugen is dedicated to telling that story in his book — one man’s story of one man’s pipeline. Norton was born in Anchorage. She is a senior at Pomona College, where she studies English. Her father, Dave, was a field engineer on the haul road in Alaska in 1974. “One Man’s Pipeline: Surveying to Startup” is available on Amazon. Photos by Dave Norton
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