Mat-Su assembly will consider nine new road projects, funded by bonds

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough assembly will consider new road projects to be funded by bonds at its next meeting. Mat-Su public works director Tom Adams said the borough administration will present nine recommended projects with a pricetag of $40 million to $60 million that would go before voters in the November municipal election, if the assembly approves.

A proposed ordinance to approve the projects will be put forward at the assembly’s first meeting in August. There will be suggestions for alternatives. The nine projects were winnowed down from a list of 65 suggested originally by community groups and borough departments, Adams told the assembly.

Decisions have to be made in August so that the projects can be put on the November election ballot for voter approval. Information on 20 alternative projects will meanwhile be provided to the assembly to aid in the discussions at the meetings in August, he said.

The bonds are being proposed without a requirement for state matching funds, borough manager Mike Brown told the assembly.

“We’ll of course try for state funds,” he said, but the borough needs to be ready to move forward with only bond financing if the state money does not come through, which it might not, he said.

In another development, Brown asked the assembly for permission to seek funds once again to convert the embankment built for the uncompleted rail spur from Port MacKenzie from use for rail to a road.

The rail spur was planned to connect Port MacKenzie with the Alaska Railroad near Houston to carry freight. The spur is essentially half-constructed. About $184 million in state funds were spent on it between 2008 and 2016, Brown said. Work halted after the crash in state oil revenues doomed any prospect of getting more state money.

The estimated cost to complete the spur is about $200 million. Brown said he is doubtful that amount of money can be obtained from either the state or federal governments. Converting the embankment to a road, however, would allow for some benefits from the state’s investment.

However, even the conversion will cost money, mainly to rebuild bridges constructed for a rail line to be suitable for a road. Once the conversion is made the road can’t be reconverted for rail use, however. “We have to realize this would be the end of the railroad spur,” he said.

With the assembly’s consent Brown and other borough officials will begin work on raising funds for the conversion. An effort to secure state funds during the 2023 legislative session was unsuccessful, Brown said.

On another matter, Brown briefed the assembly on the new Mat-Su Metropolitan Planning Organization, or MPO, being formed to coordinate federal transportation funds in a part of the borough now classified as an urban zone.

The boundary of the MPO is being set in the Palmer-Wasilla area, but it can be changed every 10 years if needed, Brown said. Under federal rules the MPO itself is organized as a nonprofit corporation. The federal government will provide $400,000 per year for planning, which essentially is used for operations. Currently about $10 million a year is estimated to be available for projects in the MPO.

The new MPO must be approved by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, and the intent now is to submit the plan to the governor in September, Brown said. Assuming the governor approves the new organization can be set up this winter, with an office opened and staff hired.

Members of the MPO include representatives of the borough, the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, a regional tribal organization and the cities of Palmer and Wasilla.