No left turn: Wasilla changes intersection

WASILLA — In a move that likely brought cheers from Knik-Fairview-area commuters, the city has outlawed left turns onto Railroad Avenue from Knik-Goose Bay Road.

“We’ve had lots of complaints there about near accidents,” said Wasilla Public Works Director Archie Giddings. “Years ago it was even looked at making that into a cul de sac.”

Giddings said people turning left there have to cross multiple lanes of traffic, even if the lines on the road imply there should only be one.

“It’s all painted one lane, but when you get down in there it turns into three lanes,” he said. “There’s too much going on at that intersection.”

Which, as anyone who has driven there at rush hour knows, is something of an understatement.

Left turns from Railroad Avenue onto Knik-Goose Bay Road are also now outlawed. The new way to get to Pe King Chinese restaurant or to the area’s Legislative Information Offices is to drive up another block and turn left on Susitna, then drop back down a block on one of the cross streets. Reverse that if you want to head toward Settler’s Bay from Railroad Avenue.

Mike Hughes, the city’s police chief, said it’s a move that makes sense.

“There’s a greater potential for people to have those accidents there,” he said. “I think it’s a good change from that standpoint.”

Like any change, though, Hughes said it’s the kind of thing that will have to be evaluated over time. He and Giddings agreed a big part of the effort is education.

Giddings, for his part, said the idea wasn’t to go out and ticket a lot of people; rather, to just change their habits. Toward that end, there’s a new no-left-turn sign and some stripes painted on the road. If the signage looks a little paltry, there’s a reason for that.

“There’s hardly any room to get a lot of signage in there,” Giddings said.

Motorists should also know that on that particular stretch the speed limit is 35 mph. It jumps up to 45 once it crests the hill. It doesn’t get to 55 until later.

Giddings said that, in the long term, the change hopefully won’t be much of a problem when the city gets its one-way couplet. The plan is to make Main Street a one-way street and pair it with Talkeetna and Yenlo streets, which will be one-way the other direction.

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