Meeting attracts a crowd

Nearly 100 turn out to talk about roads

February 26, 2006

DAWN DE BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - About 86 people, some of whom traveled from as far away as Trapper Creek and Anchorage, packed into the Legislative Information Office conference room and an overflow room to attend a highway safety meeting hosted by Valley lawmakers and the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities on Saturday.

Although the issue at hand was a bill that would create safety corridors - reduced speed limits, doubled traffic fines, and increased presence of patrol cars - along the most troublesome stretches of road where accidents occur most frequently, many residents had additional solutions for making highways safer. Those suggestions included more stop lights, additional turning lanes, lower speed limits in moose-crossing areas, and ways to get impaired drivers off the road.

&#8220A young lady mentioned the drunk-driver problems. The legislators have done nothing about it or about people driving with revoked licenses,” Wasilla resident R.K. Butts said. &#8220The law needs to be tweaked so if you drive drunk, you lose your car. If you drive while your license is revoked, you lose your car. That would get rid of these idiots.”

When Butts finished his testimony the audience broke into a unanimous round of applause.

Alaska State Trooper Capt. Al Storey explained that already felony DUI offenders lose their vehicles to the state, but some people have resorted to driving junkers with little monetary value when they go out drinking.

Margaret Billinger, a Big Lake resident, said closing the bars earlier and widening Big Lake Road would solve some of that community's road safety issues.

&#8220I've been the victim of two head-on collisions with drunk drivers. We need to get the bars to close at 2 a.m. so morning drivers have a fighting chance,” Billinger said.

Sen. Charlie Huggins, R-Mat-Su, admitted that alcohol was a problem, but asked the audience to focus on talking about the idea of safety corridors, as proposed by Senate Bill 261.

Kevin Rogers, a motorcylist with the Valley chapter of American Bikers Aimed Toward Education, said that riding motorcycles has become increasingly popular among Alaskans, and their safety issues should be met through education and road upgrades.

&#8220I'm concerned that the safety corridors don't have improved surface conditions. The sand and gravel used during the winter should be removed. It's dangerous and could be removed inexpensively,” Rogers said. &#8220Rather than going to a complete police state, improve the surface of the roads.”

In an effort to create a safety plan, DOT compiled vehicle accident information dating from 1977 to 2005 to create maps revealing the most dangerous sections of road.

Knik-Goose Bay Road and the Parks Highway between Lucus Road and Houston at Mile 56 both topped the list with 36 deaths, according to Gordon Keith, director of DOT's central region.

The most accident-prone stretches of KGB were at Mile 6, just before Vine Road, and at Mile 5 near Fairview Loop Road. That hasn't declined after the road was improved, Keith said.

If SB 261 passes, it would cost $5,000 to designate each safety corridor with signs letting people they are entering such an area - that the speed limit is lower and the fines are higher. Signs will also inform people when they drive out of the safety corridor.

&#8220We're not targeting fender benders, we're targeting areas where good Alaskans lose their lives,” Keith said.

Contact Dawn De Busk at 352-2252 or dawn.debusk@frontiersman.com.