Borough expects new road intersection will be popular

PALMER — Mat-Su Borough Public Works Director Terry Dolan is looking forward to the possibility of making a lot of people happy.

“The No. 1 phone call that we get this time of year in public works is about snowberms, and the No. 2 is about Fern and Edlund,” Dolan said.

Mother Nature seems to be taking care of a lot of those snowberms. And this summer, Dolan said, he’s going to get to do something about connecting Fern Street to Edlund Road.

If that doesn’t mean a whole lot, maybe you don’t spend a lot of time navigating the subdivisions off of Fairview Loop.

“There’s only two connections back up into Wasilla,” Dolan said of the 11 miles of Fairview Loop.

One of those connections is to take Old Matanuska Road to Seward Meridian Parkway on the eastern side. The other is to take Edlund out to Knik-Goose Bay Road on the western side. Fern would be a more direct route to KGB.

“You’re going to cut three or four miles off of the trip for most of the residents who live in the neighborhood,” Dolan said.

So it makes sense that he’d get a lot of calls, Dolan said, and it also makes sense the borough would proceed cautiously.

But it’s not just the borough at work here. While Edlund is a borough road, Fern is actually a state road. The state wants to make certain Knik-Goose Bay Road can handle that extra traffic.

“We think that’s wholly appropriate,” Dolan said. That’s why the borough agreed to some conditions on the state permit it obtained to build the intersection.

“We’re not authorized to open that road until the signal is installed at the intersection of Fern and KGB,” Dolan said.

He said he’s been told the state plans to have that stoplight in by July.

“That’s why we’re planning to do the project this summer,” he said. “We’re just waiting for the weather to get good enough to do the work.”

The borough assembly approved that contract at its Feb. 4 meeting.

“We approved the contract for that upgrade,” Mat-Su Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss said in his regular podcast. “That busy little place should see an improvement in the not-so-distant future.”

The contract was for $283,314.50 and went to Valley General Construction LLC.

“Work will involve, but is not limited to, clearing, excavation, fill, paving, drainage improvements, a residential driveway, topsoil and seeding,” according to a memo accompanying the bid award in the assembly’s packet.

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