Highway upgrades move on to design

Frontiersman

WASILLA — The state is entering the design phase on a project to ease congestion on the Parks Highway from Lucus Road to Big Lake Road.

According to information distributed by the Alaska Department of Tranpsortation and Public Facilities, the federal government issued a finding last month that says the project would have no significant impact on the environment.

That finding draws the curtain on what officials refer to as the project’s environmental phase.

The major elements of the project include extending the portion of the highway that is five lanes from where it ends near Burchell High School to Church Road.

Past Church, the highway would be “a four-lane divided highway with at-grade intersections spaced every half-mile,” according to project documents.

Lighting also will be added along the full length of the project. A bridge would replace the culvert at Little Meadow Creek.

This particular stretch of road has long been a problem the state has been working to fix. It is one of two traffic safety corridors in the Valley, meaning that traffic fines are doubled for infractions there.

It is also one of three Valley roads placed on the state’s list of the five most dangerous in Alaska. The other two are the Palmer-Wasilla Highway and Knik-Goose Bay Road from Mile 0.6 to Mile 17. That stretch of Knik-Goose Bay is the second Valley safety corridor.

Alongside the state’s project, the Mat-Su Borough is working to extend Museum Drive, South Mack Road and Machen Drive to act as connectors. They would improve traffic flow in the area and soak up traffic that would otherwise use the Parks.

The state breaks the project into three phases and says it has funding to design the first two. Those segments would be Lucus to Church and Church to Pittman Road. The only one left, then, is Pittman to Big Lake Road.

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