KGB road plans progress

WASILLA — Project planners for one section of the Knik-Goose Bay Road project have sought approval to change the road from two lanes to four.

That possible change — envisioned as two sets of two-lane road separated by a median — would still require approval from the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, said project engineer Scott Adams with DOWL HKM, the engineering contractor tasked with renovating a section of road between Vine Road and Settler’s Bay. Because DOT approval was still pending, officials were unsure about a firm timetable for the project’s ultimate completion. Once DOT approval is granted, planning for the DOWL HKM project will be about 65 percent complete, Adams said. Company representatives planned to meet with DOT officials this week to incorporate department feedback, Adams said.

If approved, the design would change the road to a “limited access road,” meaning driveways currently ending on KGB would instead feed into frontage roads, Adams said.

“We’re gonna grab a lot of those driveways for frontage roads and run them to controlled intersections,” he said.

DOT approval could prove a crucial watermark for the planning phase of the process, but isn’t necessarily the longest or most effort-intensive part of planning, Adams said.

“Once you get to about the 65 percent design mark, you kind of have the footprint of the road laid,” he said. “Then you have to contact homeowners and begin discussions about the right-of-way.”

At that point, road reconstruction makes the transition from a public feedback and comment solicitation characterized by public meetings to a series of private real-estate transactions before making the final transition to a construction project. Homeowners will be privately notified if a right-of-way or easement is being considered for their property, Adams said.

“I find that it’s best to get them (homeowners) involved early,” he said. “You don’t want them to find out their home will be bought at a public meeting.”

Project planners organized a meeting to update the public on plans July 18 at the Wasilla Senior Center.

Currently, the plans don’t call for any structures along the road to be removed, Adams said.

The state-funded project is designed to increase safety along the road, designated a traffic safety corridor, or high-risk roadway, by transportation officials in 2009. About 30 people have died on KGB since 1978, and more than 100 collisions resulting in major injury have taken place, according to Department of Transportation figures.

Those same figures show a steep decline in both fatalities and major injury accidents since the corridor designation in 2009.

A four-lane road with controlled intersections and roads would be safer, Adams said.

“You avoid the head-on collisions from unprotected left turns,” he said.

With the current road design, motorists backing out of driveways can sometimes obstruct both lanes of traffic, Adams added.

If approval is granted soon, the plan could move to a final planning presentation in October, he said. The open house Wednesday solicited additional public feed back and demonstrate how feedback from an earlier meeting had been integrated into existing preliminary plans.

Feedback at the Wednesday meeting was mostly positive, said Mari Gallion, a Public Involvement Planner with DOWL HKM. Officials were still seeking public comment and tabulating existing comments, Gallion said.

For more information, and an adjoining reconstruction project from Centaur Avenue to Vine Road, visit knikgoosebayroad.com.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.