Palmer seeks road funds

Sept. 2, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Palmer Mayor John Combs wasn't carrying clubs when he headed to the Palmer Golf Course on the morning of Aug. 11. Instead, he held a list of the city's top five transportation needs, which he handed to U.S. Rep. Don Young, who was in town to drive some golf balls.

The transportation document, written by Palmer Director of Public Works Rick Koch, described five projects. Three of those plans are designed to help with traffic congestion, according to Combs, who also asked Young for $1 million to pave the city's gravel roads. And a rails-to-trails project on the list would create a hiking-and biking system from Eagle Street to Sutton that would tie into Palmer's urban-revitalization plans, Combs said.

Palmer's traffic-mitigation concept would give drivers optional routes, to ease traffic on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway as well as reduce the number of travelers on the Glenn Highway.

The city wants to nab the rights of way along south Hemmer Road so it can build an expressway, providing residents in west Palmer with a quicker commute to their homes and diverting traffic from the Glenn, Combs said.

"It's not going to be cheap, but now would be a good time to lock up that right of way," he said.

The north-south expressway would allow for exits into Palmer's business district and would probably hook up with Bogard Road when that road is punched through to the Glenn Highway, Combs said.

Combs is also pushing for a plan to transform the Glenn Highway into a boulevard between the Alaska State Fairground and Palmer Fishhook. The boulevard would have four lanes and a wide median with trees, informational signs and turning lanes interspersed at intersections.

"We don't want a freeway running through town. It's part of the community, not a bypass or a way to blast through town," Combs said. "Aesthetically, it would be a lot more desirable."

The proposed Glenn Highway boulevard would alleviate traffic congestion, Combs said. In past meetings, the city council has discussed how it would like the boulevard to appear and how it could relieve traffic problems.

"I want it to represent downtown Palmer, to match the depot and the borough building and the old Mat Maid building. I like that Midwestern-style architecture," Palmer City Council member Kathrine Vanover said.

"That's my vision of Palmer. It can be modernized, but we're still a small town," she said.

Another road that would take traffic out of Palmer's center, Dogwood Avenue, has been in the works for some time.

"The state has given us enough money to lengthen Dogwood to behind Carrs," Combs said.

Koch's plan suggests tying the Dogwood Avenue extension into Felton Street, providing access to property where a large retail store might be constructed off the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, Combs said. Currently, Dogwood Avenue, which is parallel to and between Arctic and Evergreen avenues, ends at Colony Way. The city's plans call for it to become an east-west corridor that passes behind Carrs in Pioneer Square and then curves south to meet Felton Street.

The $1 million needed to pave Palmer's interior streets would cut down on the city's road maintenance bill and reduce dust, Combs said. It would also enhance the appearance of the residential heart of the city, he said.

Combs said he plans to take a trip to Washington, D.C., around January to provide Young and his staff with more detailed on projects for which he hopes to gain Young's support.

State Sen. Lyda Green, R-Mat-Su, has also conducted lengthy discussions with Combs. As the state Legislature's Finance Committee co-chair, she said she worked to keep congestion-mitigation money for the Valley in the budget this past session.

"By being on Finance, you're a little closer to helping create the final solution," Green said.

She agrees with the city of Palmer's plans for optional arteries because widening the Palmer-Wasilla Highway has become too expensive to be immediately tackled. Those alternate routes, proposed by Combs, would help reduce traffic, she said.

"What's happened is the cost per mile for (the Palmer-Wasilla) highway is exponentially greater than other projects. It's $130 million for a road that's 10 or 11 miles. Certainly, since I've been in the Legislature, we've watched that figure go higher. The cost just continues to grow," Green said.

But she doesn't think the cost will cancel the widening project, just delay it while other more feasible road construction plans take shape. Green predicted the major arterial will get improvement and more turning pockets.

"I think [the Palmer-Wasilla Highway] will be widened, like three lanes with turning lanes. The right-of-way acquisition is a huge cost and I don't know how you get past it."

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