Divided highway, divided opinion

JUNEAU — With local controversy over plans to expand the Parks Highway west of Wasilla, the Valley’s state senators and the committee chair convened a meeting of the Senate Transportation Committee Thursday.

“My intent for this meeting is to have a discussion on the presentation of this project,” Sen. Linda Menard said of why she asked for the meeting.

She mentioned a petition circulating through the Valley relating to the project that bears more than 600 signatures.

The state’s Department of Transportation is planning a four-lane highway from Lucus Road to Big Lake Road with a center divider. Wasilla and Houston have expressed concerns, some going far enough as to advocate a five-line road with a center turn lane. Members of both communities and other areas of the Valley spoke at the hearing by telephone.

Bill Kramer, head of the Big Lake Community Council, said his council is firmly in support of the four-lane divided plan. Big Lake supports it for one big reason: safety.

When his kids reached driving age, Kramer said, “I don’t know how many times we had conversations when we finally allowed them to go to a movie or bowling or whatever it is, about this stretch of road.”

It’s dangerous, he said.

On a recent trip, he said, “I counted six memorial sites where people and family and friends have erected memorials to people who have lost their lives on this stretch of highway.”

Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright, who was actually in the committee room in Juneau in person, said that to push a high-speed highway through a community with the intent of moving traffic through the area at high speeds tells the community that it doesn’t matter.

“We’re cities. We happen to be in your highways and our main streets grew up around your highways,” Rupright said. He said the city is interested in working this problem out with DOT, but “we don’t want to see (the highway) like a sword-cut right through the cities.”

That’s more-or-less what Houston’s position is, said Robert Hall, owner of Gorilla Fireworks. The Parks Highway in Houston is more than a highway — it’s Main Street, he said. “The current plan is an absolute disaster. It unnecessarily divides this commercial district.”

Dianne Woodruff, a Wasilla city councilwoman who spoke on her own behalf, said she wanted to inform the committee that neither the city council nor the planning commission had taken an official stance on the project. She also noted that, contrary to what some might say, the state has been working with Wasilla throughout.

“DOT did initiate contact with the city of Wasilla planning department early in the planning for this project,” Woodruff said.

Roger Purcell of Houston accused the state of lying to city officials, misrepresenting the city’s position on the project and being deceptive about where the project ends. Purcell said it goes past Big Lake Road to Hawk Lane.

“On Aug. 25, we were guaranteed that prior to any completion of this project they would come to the city and work with us,” Purcell said. “They agreed to do this. They agreed to work with the city. We have the tapes of the meetings. They have failed to do this.”

DOT project manager Jim Amundsen, when Menard asked him to respond to Purcell, said he disagreed.

“The agreement was made to go back and talk to the city prior to starting construction. I’m two years out before I start construction,” Amundsen said, noting he’s met with the city council and planning commission in Houston and plans to be back at least a couple more times. “I frankly take offense at Mr. Purcell, implying that I’m lying. I’ve not said anything other than the truth.”

Paul Gardner, one of the most active opponents of the project, said that he felt the process had been pushed through and objections steamrolled.

“There’s 21 properties between Lucus and Pittman Road where you cannot make a left-hand turn,” he said. “The Parks Highway should be five lanes, 45 miles an hour. That is safe.”

Describing opinions Rupright expressed publicly in other forums as “inflammatory” and “propaganda,” Ken Ray of Fairview said he objected to attempts to revisit the decision to go with a divided highway at this late a date.

“There is no one more harsh on DOT than me,” he said. But, “I think there are special interests that are trying to sway transportation funding at this late date.”

Berkley Tilton, head of the Knik-Fairview Community Council, pointed to an example of a road that works the way the new Parks would. The Parks east of Seward Meridian has frontage roads and controlled access. No new businesses have moved in since that happened and a few have gone under.

“I don’t have a dog in this hunt at all, but I do see the results when the highways are divided and when they’re not. Economically, regardless of the statistics that people are talking about, it does have an impact,” he said.

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