Frontiersman Editorial

Nearly endless hours of debate, meetings and public comment has finally produced a recommendation from the Mat-Su Borough Planning Commission on a planned Bogard Road extension — start over.

Wednesday’s decision to push the Borough assembly to start from scratch in finding a way to alleviate the east-west congestion on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway is passing the buck at its finest. Borough planners and staff all agree extending Bogard Road is the best option to help address our most pressing transportation need in the Mat-Su Valley. How to extend Bogard is what has stalled planners.

Since 2005, the Borough as been sitting on $12.5 million to use to acquire the land needed to extend Bogard Road to the Glenn Highway, but that can’t happen until a route is chosen. Three alternatives were on the table Wednesday, and all three were rejected by planners. The “red” route is the most direct and would have the most impact on landowners in its way. The “yellow” route is not as direct and the “blue” alternative is the option that attempts to have as little impact as possible on property owners in its path.

Borough assembly members will make a final decision and we urge them to not follow the recommendation of the planning commission to start again. The Borough has put too much time, effort and resources into identifying Bogard Road as the best option for helping alleviate the Valley’s congested roadways. There is no alternative that won’t impact any property owners; the challenge is to balance a respect for private property rights while still making decisions that best serve the needs of the community as a whole. Sometimes that means making a hard decision, one that’s best done like ripping off a Band-Aid — do it quickly and deliberately.

Making controversial decisions and recommendations like the Bogard Road extension is what the planning commission is supposed to do. Asking the Borough to start again from scratch should not be an option. Commissioner Mark Ewing recognizes this and warned that if the planning commission fails to come up with a route recommendation, the assembly is likely to choose one anyway.

In his tune “Talking World War III Blues,” Bob Dylan sings that “half of the people can be part right all of the time, some of the people can be all right part of the time, but all the people can’t be all right all the time.”

Whether it’s extending Bogard Road or finding another alternative, there won’t be an alternative to alleviating our congested Valley roads that won’t impact some people. We desperately need fast and decisive action to the Valley’s transportation challenges and it needs to begin with the Bogard Road extension.