‘Go ask the Governor why he’s killing Alaskans!’: Rep. Mark Neumann boiling over delays in KGB upgrades

A month ago I received a most somber voicemail from District 8 House Rep. Mark Neuman (R-Wasilla).

“Another Alaskan will never see their family because of another death on KGB,” he said, referring to Knik-Goose Bay Road.

Neuman’s frustration concerning delays of the KGB extension is boiling over and he wears his compassion for his constituents who have to travel KGB every day on his sleeve.

At the Mat-Su Transportation Fair on Friday I spoke with a variety of federal, state and project design representatives. The timeline is dependent upon which part of the road project you’re asking about. The portion of the project that starts at Centaur Ave and ends at Vine Road is the federally funded project. From Vine Road to Settler’s Bay Drive is the state funded portion. The Centaur Avenue to Vine Road portion is set to start construction in 2021 but could stretch into 2022. While the Vine to Settlers Bay Drive portion is set to start construction at the end of 2020. To clarify, construction start does not mean that dirt starts moving. Construction start is when the bids are awarded. This is according to the project representatives at the transportation fair. The actual construction of the road comes only after utilities are moved, easements are in place, and so forth.

Neuman and I had a more in-depth discussion about the Knik-Goose Bay project and what seems to be an extraordinary length of time to get the extension project started, much less done. It’s a project that Gov. Bill Walker put on pause after he was elected.

Why does Neuman believe it has taken this long to get the project started?

“Politics,” was Neuman’s reply. “ I cannot see anything else besides politics.”

“How can you have anything that’s already been approved by (Department of Transportation), has been through the planning, has been through the (Statewide Transportation Improvement Program), has gone through requested funding by the federal government?” he continued. “The federal government has approved funding and the project is supposed to start turning dirt and then the governor puts it on hold? What else could it be but pure politics?”

“The project is 90 percent funded by the Federal Government,” Neuman said. “It was approved in the budget by Gov. (Sean) Parnell and DOT was going to put it on…and Gov. Walker stopped it. It was ready to go out to contract. It was ready to start turning dirt.”

Back at the transportation fair, when I asked the representatives at the state booth what issues the governor’s pause caused, they told me it was pretty significant. The project had to start from scratch because traffic patterns can change in that length of time. In fact, the initial design was based on the presumption the Knik Arm crossing bridge would also be constructed. The initial design included a consideration that the traffic on Knik-Goose Bay Road would increase by 6 percent because of the bridge. After the pause and the fact that the bridge is not in the plans the design is based on an increase traffic of 2 percent. The fact that the design had to start over means an additional delay from the original planned start and additional expense, but only for the state portion of the project. The federal portion was never subject to delay, according to representatives. It is just a fact that it is taking a lot of time to get the project to the construction phase.

After the governor put the state portion of the project on hold for more than a year and the deaths on KGB starting to pile up during that period that Neuman’s frustration couldn’t be contained.

“I was so mad after the sixth and seventh people had died by July of that year, I couldn’t even sleep at night, you know, and he’s got it on hold? And it’s fully funded,” Neuman recalled.

Neuman went on to say, “I sent a text to Mike Lesmann (DOT Legislative Liaison) and asked him if KGB was still on hold? He responded, Yes it is.”

Neuman decided to pay a visit, in person, to the governor’s office to talk to the governor’s liaison Darwin Peterson.

On his way to see Peterson, Neuman saw Lesmann in the hallway and asked him again if the KGB project is still on hold. Again, Lesmann’s response was “yes.”

According to Neuman, Peterson said the project was on hold because the Mat-Su electorate was not supportive of using the PFD for government and instituting taxes. To Neuman, this was proof-positive that the only reason for the hold-up was politics.

Neuman reflected on the politics of the situation, “There’s probably politics in everything to try and leverage legislators. You look at what President Trump does to congress, but the deadliest road in the state? That’s just beyond limits…beyond limits.”

Neuman then went downstairs and saw Nat Herz (then reporter for the Alaska Dispatch News).

“I was so upset I told Herz to go upstairs and ask the governor, why he’s killing Alaskans. And then I spoke with KTVA’s Liz Raines and told her the same thing. A half hour later Darwin comes downstairs and says, ‘oh, I didn’t realize the governor had a meeting yesterday with the (DOT) commissioner and took it off hold.’ I just looked at him and said, ‘Darwin, I don’t care. I thought cover your (butt) do you what you have to do just get it done. Just do it.” Neuman said.

According to Neuman, later he and Rep. Colleen Sullivan Leonard met with the personnel on the KGB project.

“Colleen and I were seeing that nothing is getting done so we get on a conference call with the engineers and we’re wanting this project to get expedited. Their reply was, ‘we can’t do that.’ Then we found out that because the governor had put the project on hold for the year it would take an additional year. Because he stopped everything it takes another year to get the project started again,” Neuman said.

Now, barring any more delays, those who travel the KGB are looking at another two or three more years before the start of this project. Who knows what the completion date will be?