Glenn to be closed

Construction set to begin

at Mile 92-97

May 18, 2007

By Hannah Guillaume/Frontiersman

MAT-SU - Overnight road trips on the Glenn Highway east of Palmer will be temporarily cut short this summer.

Starting at midnight Monday, the highway will closed for construction between mileposts 92 and 97. It reopens daily at 6 a.m. The construction ends on Oct. 1. Overnight closures will not occur on weekends.

&#8220We'll be doing blasting, and we'll have the road full of debris and rock with six hours to clean that off,” said Brant Cleaves, project manager for Alaska Interstate Construction.

The $26 million project is being administered by the state with federal highway funding. Alaska Interstate Construction has 52 people currently working on site. When the night shift starts, 23 additional people will join the construction crew.

Cleaves said they are blasting almost daily at 6 p.m. Other construction work will cause 20-minute delays throughout the day.

Travelers in the area during closures will find no detour, although waiting out the six-hour delay is possible.

&#8220There's several turnouts along the roadway, and we'll have Porta Potties and water to ease the inconvenience,” Cleaves said.

Dumpsters for garbage disposal and courtesy wake-up calls will be made at turnouts 20 minutes before the road reopens.

Johnny Sorenson, a project engineer for the construction for Alaska's Department of Transportation, said the construction crews are shaving the highway's sharp curves, installing new drainage pipes and creating additional travel lanes.

”I believe on five miles of road we will have roughly five miles of passing lanes,” said Sorenson. &#8220I'm hopeful that this will probably be one of the most beautiful roads in the state.”

From the highway, views of the 27-mile-long Matanuska Glacier abound and a bridge crosses over Hicks Creek.

Construction advisory signs are about four miles east of Palmer, two miles from the construction zone on either side, and in

Glennallen.

Sorenson said crews are considering placing additional warning signs on the Glenn Highway before the Palmer-Wasilla split. Signs urging slow moving vehicles to pull over near the construction zone are going up, because there is a 25-mile section of the highway with limited turnout opportunities.

Contact Hannah Guillaume at 352-2250.