Knik-Goose Bay: Hurry up and wait

WASILLA — Drivers of one of the most dangerous roads in the state gathered around maps at the Wasilla Area Seniors, Inc., for a project update on the Knik-Goose Bay Road Thursday evening.

Two separate projects are set to begin in the summer of 2021 on the treacherous stretch of road. The section from Vine Road to Settlers Bay Drive will be carried out by the state, and from Centaur Road to Vine Road is a Federal project. Tom Schmid is managing both projects for the Department of Transportation. Schmid listened to concerns from daily drivers and reiterated that help from daily dangerous traffic is on the way.

“We have the backing of the governor, the commissioner upper management of DOT. This is the number one project within the department,” Schmid said.

Shannon McCarthy, the media liaison with the DOT, said that daily traffic on Knik-Goose Bay Road is nearly 20,000 cars per day.

“We find that two-lane opposing traffic roads like this function with about half of that and they can function really well up to about 12,000, so we’re over that now and that’s when congestion starts to be a problem,” McCarthy said.

Knik-Goose Bay Road was designated as a safety corridor in 2009. With new pavement put down in 2004, KGB still saw 10 serious or fatal crashes. Many of the fatal crashes between 2006 and 2016 on KGB occur in the month of December or June, according to DOT statistics. Traffic volume saw a plateau around 2009 when KGB was officially designated as a safety corridor. KGB has seen seven fatal crashes between 2015 and 2017, according to DOT.

In a number of graphs and charts on the DOT Safety Corridor website, serious injury and fatal crashes diminished following the 2009 Safety Corridor designation.

“It’s one of the busiest two-lane roads in the state so it’s also one of the most serious crash roads in the state and it’s been that way since 2009. It’s become just as busy as the Parks Highway west of Wasilla,” said Scott Thomas of DOT. “We’ve done a lot of interim things, but now what we want is just the big project that makes it safer.”

Thomas said that the temporary fixes have improved safety, but that the most effective way to reduce crashes is to drive carefully. Thomas said that DOT has put in more speed reminders after being asked to do so by concerned residents. DOT has also put large arrows on corners, stenciled speeds into the road and added rumble strips to help people be alert. While DOT personnel are confident that the temporary fixes have helped improve the safety, daily drivers of KGB are just as frustrated as ever.

“It’s bumper to bumper during the 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. time, so I think it’s gotten pretty bad. People get impatient on this road,” said Lynne McCarter.

McCarter was one of the dozens of daily KGB drivers who attended the informational meeting to look at maps and ask questions. McCarter was pleased that there were no roundabouts planned. Each year sees a spike in serious injury and fatal accidents when the road conditions deteriorate in December.

“What makes it so bad is it’s very, very dark in the winter and it’s hard to see your turnoff. Add any kind of weather into it and it just sucks,” said Tom Meyer.

Meyer said that his frustration with KGB does not stay within one time frame, and that the struggle to turn left is very real.

“Traffic is spaced to where if you’re trying to make a left, it’s spaced so that there’s not an opening and even turning right it’s hurried,” Meyer said.

According to Schmid, design is over 75 percent done, and the next two years will focus on right of way acquisition.

“People just want it to come faster and part of it is this is the fastest growing area in the state of Alaska so it’s hard to keep up with that kind of growth, but we’re trying,” McCarthy said.

Alaska had a slight dip in fatal car crashes in 2015, but rose again to 84 vehicle fatalities in 2016. After being designated a safety corridor in 2009, KGB has seen a 46 percent decrease in serious crashes. Feedback from the community has been valuable. McCarthy said that DOT is considering starting the project from downtown Wasilla out toward Settlers Bay per requests from daily drivers.

“Everybody’s really supporting. They like what we’re doing with making the connections from these secondary roads into these subdivisions and that’s going to allow everybody to get to the signalized intersection so they can make a safe turn,” Schmid said.

Schmid said that DOT is planning for the future, and that the $160 million four-lane divided highway will accommodate up to 30,000 cars a day, which is the expected Annual Average Daily Traffic within the next two decades.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.