Mat-Su outdoors: Plan could prevent accidents

Aug. 28, 2007

By MATT TUNSETH/ Frontiersman

WASILLA - Thanks to a renewed emphasis on highway safety nationwide, a group hoping to reduce the number of moose collisions on Alaska roads now has a say in how the state's highways are managed and constructed in the future.

Contained in the sweeping &#8220Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Act: A Legacy for Users” (SAFETEA-LU) highway funding bill signed into law in 2005 was a call for a renewed emphasis on highway safety on American roads. Among other things, the bill mandated state agencies prepare a strategic highway safety plan in order to received full federal funding for roads programs.

After months of public testimony, inter-agency meetings and countless hours of brainstorming and fine-tuning, the Alaska Department of Transportation is in the final stages of finalizing its plan. But unlike in the past, when state bureaucracies were typically left on their own to craft new plans and direction, this time around DOT has invited a few new players to the table.

&#8220The feeling right now is you've got to do something different,” DOT division director of program management Jeff Ottesen said Monday.

Among those are the Alaska Moose Federation, which for the past few years has been outspoken about the need to do more to keep vehicles and Alaska's largest ungulate away from one another. The group's chairman, Gary Olson, said the significance of being able to provide input on the new highway safety plan is profound.

&#8220Now, moose mitigation is being talked about in a whole different way,” Olson said Monday.

While his organization has toiled mainly on its own, Olson said the joint efforts between his group and DOT will enable the Moose Federation to become a bigger player when it comes to highway safety and design issues. And with an average of more than 250 moose collisions each year in the Mat-Su area alone, Olson said there are plenty of issues that need to be addressed.

Some specific measures Olson would like to see taken up during planning stages for new roads include creating more wildlife passage corridors, reducing the amount of browse along highways and improving moose habitat in areas that aren't near roads.

&#8220We're looking for more corridors,” Olson said.

Ottesen said that part of the bill's focus was to decrease the number of highway fatalities nationwide.

&#8220Congress felt the U.S. was not addressing highway safety,” he said. &#8220Highway safety here has plateaued, while in Europe deaths have decreased. That's kind of what's driving this.”

When the bill was passed, President Bush said the idea behind creating safer highways across the nation.

&#8220This is more than just a highway bill; it's a safety bill,” Bush said a a bill-signing ceremony in Montgomery, Ill. outside Chicago. &#8220The American people expect us to provide them with the safest possible transportation system, and this bill helps fulfill that obligation.”

Ottesen said Alaska is receptive to any and all new ideas to reduce traffic fatalities, and at this point is keeping all options open when it comes to creating new design standards the better take into account wildlife passage and moose collision mitigation.

&#8220We're trying to say, ‘OK, let's keep everything on the table and lets take nothing off the table,'” Ottesen said.

Among other groups ranging from Alaska State Troopers to the Alaska Trucker's Association, the Moose Federation has had a seat on an advisory panel during planning meetings, and Ottesen said he believes moose issues will definitely be a part of the final plan's recommendations.

&#8220That's certainly been in the discussion,” he said.

The plan is expected to be finalized later this month. Gary Olson said he is optimistic that the new attitude toward highway safety will carry over to state funding of transportation projects, and said he believes it will now be easier for his group to get the attention of state leaders, including Gov. Sarah Palin - who, he pointed out, is a native of the Mat-Su area who knows how dangerous moose collisions can be.

&#8220She doesn't need to read a memo no how bad these corridors are,” Olson said. &#8220She's already aware.”

DOT is in its final stages of finalizing the plan, and will hold public meetings Sept. 11 and 12 at the Lake Lucille Inn in Wasilla, during which time agencies and the public will have a chance to comment on and tweak the plan before it's submitted to the commissioner's office before being forwarded on to Washington.

Olson said he believes the new look at safety will have a lasting impact on the number of collisions between moose and automobiles - something all Alaskans can take to heart.

&#8220I think everybody with a steering wheel is going to breathe a little easier.”

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@

frontiersman.com