That was the projection presented by Steven Noble — the project engineer for DOWL HKM — to the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau on Friday.
The environmental impact statement should be completed by November, Noble said, with design work wrapping up in April 2011. Construction will take place next summer, and a parking lot, transit hub and access road should be done by the first snowfall next year.
  
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A draft of the environmental impact statement is nearly finished and should be put up for public review in April, Noble said. This comes after about 18 months of public input. Through the process, the engineers identified the best location for the access road and what the public wants the finished product to look like.
Noble said the road will branch off of Edgerton Parks Road and run just over one mile to the parking lot accessing the existing cross-country skiing trails. It will be a two-lane road with a separate 10-foot wide gravel path running its length. The parking lot will include a bus stop and restroom facilities.
Construction will be paid for with the balance of the $5.9 million allocated to the project largely from the Federal Transit Authority. To satisfy the funding requirements, public transit will have to make regular stops at the facility. Noble said engineers are currently working with MASCOT to iron out the details of bus service.
Anything beyond the transit facility — such as added trails, lights or a day lodge — will have to come from additional funding at a later date, Noble said. Part of the larger picture includes an Alpine skiing facility farther north. But, Noble said, funding is currently being focused on the Nordic facility.
Asked what the intended summer uses are for the parking lot and adjoining trails, Noble responded there has been a lot of interest from hikers and mountain bikers. Work on the project includes balancing all the comments from a variety of user groups.
Comments
16 comment(s)firebreather wrote on Jul 31, 2010 7:45 PM:
valley wrote on Feb 19, 2010 9:50 AM:
A Resident wrote on Feb 16, 2010 12:23 PM:
And I apologize for the misspelling of Hatcher Pass...I was more concern about what I was saying than spelling. "
A Real Alaskan wrote on Feb 15, 2010 8:44 PM:
offsoapstone wrote on Feb 15, 2010 8:10 PM:
JD wrote on Feb 15, 2010 6:47 PM:
disregard wrote on Feb 14, 2010 6:25 PM:
How worthy can an opinion be if the commenter doesn't even know the name of the area? "
A Resident wrote on Feb 14, 2010 3:37 PM:
Real Alaskan wrote on Feb 14, 2010 2:39 PM:
Time to get reorganized to run these low on the foodchains away AGAIN. Go find your own mountain. This one belongs to ALL the people. Build your own roads and facilities. We built these. "
katherine morgan wrote on Feb 14, 2010 2:02 PM:
Hmmmm wrote on Feb 14, 2010 11:28 AM:
Where off Edgerton Parks road? Will this impact a neighborhood? Why can't the acess road come off Palmer-Fishhook?
Sounds like a great idea, but I'm concerned about traffic, and opening up this area to trails to those inconsiderate snowmobile riders that feel that any patch of snow is theirs for the taking. The whole side of the mountain is supposed to be unmotorized, yet we hear the whine of those nasty engines daily. "
Wait wrote on Feb 14, 2010 10:36 AM:
um hello wrote on Feb 14, 2010 8:01 AM:
if that's the case, those are avalanche runout zones.
just saying. "
The truth to the issue wrote on Feb 14, 2010 12:37 AM:
cant wait wrote on Feb 13, 2010 10:16 PM:
shame wrote on Feb 13, 2010 8:55 PM: