PALMER — The state’s Department of Transportation is backing off on plans for building a couplet of two, one-way roads running into and out of Palmer.

Jim Amundsen, project manager for the couplet, said it has become clear to DOT that there is no consensus in place and that the agency is not in the business of building projects without a consensus.

“We are taking a step back and entering into a re-analysis of the alternatives available to address the congestion and safety issues at the (Palmer-Wasilla Highway’s) eastern terminus,” he said.

ROBERT DeBERRY/Frontiersman Traffic stops at the intersection of the Palmer-Wasilla and the Glenn highways Thursday morning. The state Department of Transportation is backing off plans for building a pair of one-way roads running into and out of Palmer.

Toward that, even the name of the project has changed. Amundsen said it’s no longer the Palmer Couplet project but the, “The Palmer-Wasilla Highway Eastern Terminus Improvement Project.”

“I’ve been trying to come up with a good acronym,” Amundsen said.

The change in direction comes after a handful of heated meetings, both with DOT representatives and before the city council in Palmer. Business owners worried that the couplet would affect their livelihoods. Some worried about loss of parking spots and ruining the pedestrian-friendly downtown area. Others felt there were better solutions out there DOT hadn’t looked at. To say the least, the project has caused an uproar.

“As a city council member with an office downtown, everybody knows where to find me and they have,” said Palmer City Councilman Kevin Brown. “I stopped counting at 200.”

Amundsen said that as the plan is to put together, a group of stakeholders can go over the project and examine any options they want. DOT won’t set up the group but will participate. Brown said the city council will likely participate as well.

To get more options on the table, a meeting Tuesday afternoon in Palmer was convened with maps that citizens could mark up.

The plan as originally envisioned called for traffic coming into the city to run on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway with traffic running out to take Dogwood Avenue, which would be lengthened to eventually meet up with the Palmer-Wasilla Highway west of town.

One plan Amundsen heard at the meeting would forgo Dogwood for an as-yet un-built road someplace south of the Palmer-Wasilla Highway. He said he also heard some talk of a freeway-style interchange at the Glenn highway and Palmer Wasilla Highway in. Other options include the current one-way couplet idea that was submitted to the Palmer City Council back in 2007. Three other options were included at that point — no-build option of just upgrading existing streets, an option to widen the roads, and a two-way couplet.

Taking a step back, though, opens a question that has been raised at previous meetings — the money appropriated for the project. Amundsen said Wednesday that it was not his contention that changing the plan from a one-way couplet to some other project meant the project would lose its funding.

“The comment all along is if we say we don’t want a project, if that’s the community’s final answer if you will, then the funding gets sent back to the state,” he said. The process would start all over and any new project would be 10 years away.

But if the project is one to address traffic issues, then the money can be used. Whether it will be enough money is yet to be determined. Amundsen said a new plan might require more money than is on hand or it might require a less. A lot depends on what project is approved. But he said he’s reasonably confident the state will be able to find the money if more money is needed.

One thing he doesn’t want to do is repeat what happened this time around, Amundsen said. In 2007, as the city discussed its long-range transportation plan the city council chose to endorse the one-way couplet.

But that was two years ago. In the interim, that consensus, such as it was, evaporated. Amundsen said his goal would be to bring stakeholders together, settle on a plan, and get the project rolling before another two-year gap opens up.

Mike Chmielewski, a Palmer city councilman elected soon after that decision, said he now thinks that process, for whatever reason, has proved insufficient.

“Back then it’s likely that the work that was being proposed seemed so far into the future and just a concept that people were not attuned to it,” Chmielewski said. “Once that concept was supported and out there the years rolled by and lo and behold, perhaps a bit sooner than most folks thought, it popped up again.”

He said, when asked if he is for or against the couplet, that the question was a false one. The city has to look at its long-range transportation needs. Something has to be done. But whether that’s a one-way couplet or some other project is a question yet to be decided.

“I support continuing this process to ensure that whichever we choose satisfies the needs of the community,” Chmielewski said.

Brown said he, too, is very much in favor of the process and was very excited that DOT decided to take a step back. But he urged people not to get complacent, to continue to give their input to DOT.

“So many times people organize, they accomplish one part of the plan and then say, ‘OK we won,’” Brown said. “I don’t think that’s going to be the issue on this particular topic but I want as many voices as possible.”

Once the stakeholders’ group is together and a mediator selected, meetings should begin this summer. Anyone interested in joining the group should visit the project’s Web site at palmercouplet.com and contact someone involved in the project or contact the city. Comments, including suggestions for other solutions to the traffic problem, can also be submitted via the project Web page. 

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.