Palmer council hears about Bogard Road extension plan

Dec. 5, 2006

By LEILA KHEIRY

Frontiersman

The Palmer City Council and a few Palmer residents learned a little more last week about the proposed Bogard Road extension, a planned borough road project that would create an east-west option to the busy Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

During a special city council meeting Nov. 28 before the regular meeting began, Stewart Osgood, president of Anchorage-based DOWL Engineers, gave a presentation about the project, which is in its planning stages. Construction likely won't begin until 2009, he said.

Osgood said the daily traffic flow on area roads already is high. He said the Palmer-Wasilla Highway gets about 17,000 trips daily, most of those occurring at peak commuting times in the morning and evening, and there are an estimated 3,200 trips per day on Trunk Road, which connects the highway to the existing Bogard Road.

Growth projections indicate traffic in the area eventually will double, he said, which means alternate roads are imperative.

A route for the Bogard Road extension has not been chosen, he said, but Osgood expects to have a preferred route picked by summer. Some considerations that have been discussed include routes from where Bogard now ends, leading to Arctic Road or Marsh Road. Some options avoid Colony High School, and others pass close to the school. Some go through subdivisions, fish streams or wetlands, he said. All have good points and concerns, which will be considered, along with costs, when making a final decision.

Also to be considered is public comment, he said, and there already has been one public meeting in October to gather opinions. Another is planned for spring, Osgood said. The public also is encouraged to submit comments to DOWL via e-mail at bogardroad@

dowl.com, by fax at (907) 563-3953, or in person at the company's Palmer office at 809 S. Chugach St., Unit 4. More information about the project is available at the office and via the Internet at www.bogard

road.com.

Osgood said the planned road, whatever route is chosen, will be a two-lane road with 12-foot lanes, 8-foot paved shoulders, pedestrian walkways, and enough right of way to expand to four lanes in the future. He said there also will be a raised median separating the lanes, and there are plans for landscaping the median as it approaches Palmer.

After Osgood's presentation, council member Kathrine Vanover asked whether Bogard and Seldon roads could handle the additional traffic that the new road would funnel toward them.

Osgood said there might need to be upgrades on those roads, but that has not been discussed.

Contact Leila Kheiry at

352-2270 or at leila.kheiry@

frontiersman.com