Ease frustration with pennies

Tired of traffic congestion in the core area of the Valley?

Sick of being stuck behind a long line of cars at one of any number of bottlenecks? Annoyed at spending a half hour driving between Palmer and Wasilla when it used to be a 15-minute trip?

Let’s face it, when it comes to things to complain about, Valley roads are right up there on our list.

It’s time to put our money where our mouths are.

The Mat-Su Borough Assembly last week approved a $15 million bond request for the Oct. 7 ballot that would provide companion projects to some planned state Department of Transportation road work.

Connector roads, paving upgrades and extensions designed to ease traffic congestion around the Palmer and Wasilla areas would be funded by the bonds, providing the state comes through with its 70 percent funding of each project.

According to Borough officials, the projects are too small to be completed by DOT but too large for local road service areas. By securing matching funding in the 70-30 funding structure, Borough voters could put into motion projects that should help put them into motion as they travel. If the state doesn’t plunk down the 70 percent, the Borough says it won’t commit the 30 percent on a project-by-project basis.

In a place where all too often there is only one way to get between two distant points, these practical projects provide other alternatives. Not only should these options — like a northern connection between Palmer-Fishhook Road and the Glenn Highway and a connector between Bodenburg Loop and the Old Glenn Highway — ease traffic, they will also provide better ingress and egress options for emergency vehicles and open up new lands.

The price tag? $15.89 per year on each $100,000 of assessed value of your property. For the average Mat-Su homeowner, that’s less than $32 a year. That’s about 60 cents a week. You could burn that much in fuel just sitting behind someone on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway making a left turn.

We’re not keen on more taxes, but when we can vote to spend a few cents a week to make our lives better, we say yes.