Insanity on the Glenn

EAGLE RIVER — It took commuters from the Valley three hours and longer to reach Anchorage on Thursday morning, and according to the Alaska Department of Transportation, they should expect delays for at least the next three to five days as inbound Glenn Highway traffic is detoured through Eagle River’s business district and its main residential thoroughfares while damage to the overpass bridge near the inbound South Eagle River exit at Mile 13 on the Glenn Highway is repaired.

“All staff is working diligently to get the highway open as quickly as is safely possible. The Glenn Highway is a vital transportation route and traffic is greatly inconvenienced by the delays,” Shannon McCarthy, spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Transportation, wrote in an electronic press release distributed Thurs., March 22.

At 1 p.m. on Wednesday, a Big Horn Trucking vehicle carrying a small structure contacted the Artillery Road bridge crossing lanes of the Glenn Highway. The damage done by the speed of the collision damaged one of the 200,000-pound girders that hold the bridge up. Upon further examination, DOT officials determined they could not scrape excess concrete off the bridge and prevent it from falling in the roadway. With immediate danger to anyone traveling under the bridge in the southbound lanes, an alternate southbound route had to be used Thursday morning. Commuters can expect to use the alternate route for the next 3 to 5 days.

“We are working on alternatives and considering what we can move onto the northbound lanes. Our traffic and safety engineers are making plans and adjustments,” said Shannon McCarthy of DOT.

The Artillery Road overpass will not require a complete rebuild but the girder that cracked will need to be removed before the southbound lanes can re-open. McCarthy said that DOT is mobilizing immediately to resolve the issue.

“We are working through emergency procurement and asking for $1.8 million in emergency funding,” said McCarthy.

Bighorn Enterprises is based in Fairbanks. Initial reports from DOT indicate the load was being transported legally. No official pilot car escort was required, according to McCarthy, and a large yellow banner with the word “OVERSIZE” in black letters was attached to the front of the semi-tractor pulling the loaded trailer.

“The bridge is not safe to travel under due to damage to a girder. The concrete around the girder was crushed when it was hit, so while the concrete remains in place, there is no structural integrity on this part of the bridge,” McCarthy’s press release stated. “Traffic above the bridge is being shifted away from the damaged girder. The concern is that the 200,000-pound bridge girder could potentially fall onto the Glenn Highway.”

DOT initially listed APD as the lead investigator of the incident. On Thursday afternoon, APD turned the official investigation over to the DOT.

That move was made, according to a press release from MJ Thim, APD Communications director, because, “DOT is the lead now since this is a State roadway. We are assisting. We are managing the traffic situation. Any questions about the driver, the truck, what happened…etc. will come from DOT.”

In the meantime, the thousands and thousands of vehicles now exiting at the N. and S. Birchwood Loops and the N. Eagle River exit for detour routes on the Old Glenn Highway connecting to either the N. Eagle River Loop Road and the Eagle River Road is creating severe gridlock.

In response, the Anchorage School District opened delayed Thursday morning start time and enacted an early release for all schools in the Chugiak-Eagle River area.

Several restaurants in Eagle River did not open on time because owners and staff could not get through traffic snarls.

Many moms who normally zip along Eagle River’s main thoroughfares taking children to school resorted to crisscrossing through residential neighborhoods to avoid the long lines of traffic backed up on the N. Eagle River Loop Road and the Eagle River Road.

Social media sites, such as the Glenn Highway Report, were abuzz with posts regarding the situation with advice on which streets to take to avoid the detoured commuters. Others posted surrender to the situation – taking the kids back home or calling the boss to say they wouldn’t be in to work Thursday – after spending anywhere from a half hour to 45 minutes inching along in 45-mile-per hour speed zones

“This continues to be a developing situation. All detour solutions are currently being reviewed and a new detour route will be announced in the near future,” McCarthy wrote.

At about noon on Thursday, APD and DOT announced tentative plans for a press conference possibly at 3 p.m. announcing possible changes to the current detour route.

Updates regarding the bridge and traffics detours will be posted at 511.Alaska.Gov and at www.dot.alaska.gov/glennhighwayoverpass.