Knik River Road project starts this summer

PALMER — For this summer, it’s just a paving project. But the borough’s tourism industry hopes that further upgrades to Knik River Road could be the first step toward Knik Glacier dethroning Portage Glacier as the most visited ice in Alaska.

According to an e-mail from Mat-Su Borough Capital Projects Manager Mike Brown, the scope of the current contract for construction includes:

• surfacing the last 1.5 miles of the road from Mile 9.7 to 11.2;

• reconstructing the roadway curve at Bingham Hill (Mile 1.9); and

• improving the Tempra Street intersection sight distance (Mile 3.7).

Brown said that when the project — funded with a $2.1 million state grant — was first put out to bid, one of the options the borough asked for was a scenic turnout that could handle tour buses. When the bids came in, there wasn’t enough money to build the pullout — it would have cost an extra $360,000 — so it was left out.

Mat-Su Convention and Visitors’ Bureau Executive Director Bonnie Quill testified at a borough assembly meeting April 1 about the value of the pullout. She said that with the Portage Glacier in retreat, there are tour companies that have committed to rerouting their tours to Knik in 2015.

“This is the first step in building the Knik Glacier to replace the Portage Glacier as the No. 1 glacier-viewing area,” Quill said. “I hope that the assembly can communicate the importance of this project and the completion of the overlook to the Department of Transportation and our legislators.”

Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss is a believer. In fact, he has even more than a pullout in mind for improved amenities in the area.

“We would be doing well to invest in a bridge crossing onto that huge gravel bar that is out there right at the face of the glacier. There could be a world-class tourist destination there, and I think there would be some world-class development on the banks of the river around that, too, if access were provided,” he said in the April edition of his regular podcast. “It is pretty much a well-behaved river. I don’t think it would be hard to bridge.”

But when the borough decided not to construct the pullout as a financial decision, it perhaps dodged what could have been a fight with the locals.

Knik River Road-area residents, including the president of the South Knik River Community Council and Patty Rosnel, who keeps a close eye on the assembly, have said in media accounts of the project that they oppose transforming the mostly quiet, scenic residential area into a major tourist draw. Their concerns include traffic, but also safety. An accident big enough to close the road also would cut residents off from emergency services.

And, if the borough and the tourism industry are considering ways to build the pullout once the project wraps up at the end of this summer, it won’t be as cheap as $360,000.

“If it were to be put out for bid in the future as a standalone project, I expect it would come in considerably higher, as this bid was part of a larger project and therefore there is some cost savings with having a contractor already out on site,” Brown wrote in his e-mail.

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