Lots of highway work slated for this summer

PALMER — Between federal stimulus dollars and work the state had planned to do on its own, this summer is shaping up to be a banner year for road construction.

In Southcentral Alaska, “We are seeing the largest construction season program ever,” Jennifer Witt with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities told a combined meeting of the Greater Wasilla and Greater Palmer chambers of commerce Wednesday.

She said the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funded 50 Alaska road projects, 75 percent of which are due to start construction this year.

Witt said she’s often asked why DOT didn’t use that money to do something big like realign the Glenn Highway or reconstruct the Parks Highway. She said the feds decided they didn’t want to pay for design work and that the money needs to go to “shovel ready” projects. Those big highway projects were not shovel ready.

While this is to be a banner year, Witt said the future looks somewhat grim. The feds are focusing more on mass transit options. Roads are decreasing in priority. Which is fine for East Coast states, but not as good for rural, young states like Alaska.

Still, in terms of the Valley, a number of projects are slated for construction this year.

There is, of course, the Trunk Road project which, when finished, will mean the Valley has a new four-lane, much straighter Trunk Road. That project is under way, but not scheduled to be complete until next summer. Still, anyone who’s driven through the area has seen the wide swath crews have cleared through the area and noticed that the intersection with the Palmer-Wasilla Highway will be moved slightly closer to Palmer.

The Valley is also going to be the site for a number of the department’s rumble strip projects.

All told, the department plans to install 334 miles of rumble strips on the shoulders of major rural routes in Southcentral. Included on that list are the Parks Highway and Knik-Goose Bay Road traffic safety corridors and rumble strips in the center of stretches of the Parks and Glenn that see a lot of head-on crashes.

One project on the list might not immediately jump out as something DOT would be involved in. The department is using federal dollars to put a bike trail between East Fireweed Avenue and East Arctic Avenue in downtown Palmer. That project should be wrapped up by the end of this month.

The department has also started working to resurface the Glenn between Eklutna and the Parks interchange. DOT says the work will be done mostly at night without closing the road and that paving will be complete in time for the Alaska State Fair.

The project to light the last dark stretch of the Glenn may start this year but the department doesn’t expect to put lights up until fall of 2011.

School zones will be put in place at the following Valley schools: Meadow Lakes Elementary, Big Lake Elementary, Su-Valley Jr./Sr. High, Midnight Sun Charter, Iditarod Elementary, both Colony schools, Pioneer Peak, Elementary, Butte Elementary and Snowshoe Elementary. DOT says it needs more funding to get the project started but work can begin immediately once that happens.

And finally, out by the port, the department is looking at a $2.5 million to $5 million project to improve access to Port MacKenzie. That work will be done mostly next summer but some earthwork could begin this year.

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