Plan eyes easier travel

Borough looks to the future

December 2, 2005

DARRELL L. BREESE\Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - Flying cars, jet-propelled trucks and Star Trek-like transporters were not part of the future laid out by the Mat-Su Borough planning department during a public meeting Wednesday, but if the borough's transportation plan becomes a reality, navigating across the Valley will be much smoother.

Borough officials are seeking public input and comments on the plan before presenting the final version to the assembly for approval. The transportation plan assesses growth in the borough over the next 20 years, and identifies the key elements of the borough's future transportation system that will be needed to serve its growing communities.

&#8220In a general sense, transportation planning is no different than any other type of planning, in that it lays out a desired future and the steps that will be needed to produce the desired outcomes,” Murph O'Brien, borough director of planning and land use, said. &#8220A failure to plan leaves one more vulnerable to the whims of fortune and external forces.”

Needed improvements to the road system identified by the plan include making the Parks Highway four lanes wide all the way to Big Lake Road, making the Glenn Highway four lanes wide from the Parks turnoff to Palmer Fishhook Road, extending and widening Seward Meridian, realigning Hyer and Trunk roads, extending Dogwood Street across the Glenn Highway from South Alaska to Felton Street and reconstructing Burma Road.

Over the last 20 years, the borough experienced significant population growth and is projected to nearly double in size within the next 20 years. As Alaska's most rapidly growing borough, this rate of growth can challenge the community's ability to provide the roads, trails and other transportation elements needed to efficiently and effectively serve its residents and businesses.

&#8220Transportation projects usually require years to develop and construct,” O'Brien said. &#8220Without planning ahead we could find ourselves virtually gridlocked if improvements are not accomplished in a timely manner. Therefore, transportation improvements must be agreed upon early on and programmed for construction as early as possible in order to prevent congestion and unsafe conditions.”

The long-range plan attempts to identify those needs based on projected population growth and traffic models.

&#8220There are many benefits to having a long-range transportation plan,” O'Brien said. &#8220As we grow, the transportation needs of the Valley increase, and it is clear that our needs are driven by capacity. The more we grow, the more our roads become crowded.”

Wasilla resident Fred Deiser stood in disbelief as he looked over the miles of roads depicted on countless maps spread on tables, displaying the needs set forth in the plan.

&#8220I can't believe the growth and that all this is necessary,” Deiser said. &#8220I still can't believe the two-lane Parks Highway near Cottonwood Creek where I proposed to my wife is now a four-lane highway. But I guess it's the price of progress.”

O'Brien said having the plan will help the borough acquire money for the projects deemed most necessary under the plan. As funding becomes tighter, he pointed out, having a long-range plan that looks at every element of the borough's transportation needs gives the borough more solid footing when seeking dollars.

&#8220Often when you're competing for federal and state funds, the question is what is the real need,” he said. &#8220I believe that this plan will help us demonstrate the need and have a better chance at securing funding.”

There aren't any surprises in the plan. It includes the basic needs people have been grumbling about in the Valley for years.

&#8220This plan confirms what everybody knows about the improvements that are needed,” O'Brien said. &#8220You can ask anyone and they will agree that the Palmer-Wasilla Highway needs to be upgraded. People have been talking about all these recommended road improvements for a while, now we have them assembled into a comprehensive transportation plan.”

The plan breaks the road improvement projects needed between now and 2025 in three groups - base-level projects, needed projects and neighborhood connector projects. The breakdown was developed based on evaluations of traffic models and population projections.

Base-level projects are those that the borough, Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, city of Wasilla and city of Palmer all agree either exist or should be built well within the 20-year scope of the plan.

Needed projects are those that should be constructed in order to accommodate growth anticipated to occur before 2025. This list of projects is a prediction of roads that will need to be expanded or built in order to adequately accommodate projected traffic levels.

Neighborhood connector projects are those that will be needed as new homes and neighborhoods are developed. These projects are primarily collector-level streets that will connect new subdivisions to main arterial roads. The key task with this group of projects is to identify where the future collectors should be located and construct them as the neighborhoods are built.

According to the plan, population projections are what is driving all the recommendations. Estimates from the University of Alaska Institute of Social and Economic Research show that in 2025, there will be about 100,000 more people living in the borough.

&#8220Moving that many people around on a bunch of two-lane roads just won't work,” Tom Brigham, project manager with HDR Alaska Inc., which prepared the plan. &#8220The borough needs to have a plan with substance for how to move forward and develop the roads necessary to keep things running smoothly.”

In addition to identifying improvements needed to the main roads and highways passing through the Valley, the plan also calls for a series of collector roads that will improve traffic flow.

&#8220One problem we have here is that there is not a good system of collector roads that feed into the main arterials,” O'Brien said. &#8220Instead, we have a bunch of subdivisions and driveways that connect directly to roads like the Palmer-Wasilla Highway. That's not a safe situation.”

Wednesday's meeting took place at the Cottonwood Creek public safety building. Other open-house-style public meetings are scheduled to take place at Goose Bay Elementary next Wednesday from 6-9 p.m. and at the Willow Community Center on Thursday from 6-9 p.m. Public comments will also be accepted in written form either at the borough planning office or may be mailed before Jan. 13. A copy of the draft plan is available on the borough's Web site, www.matsugov.us/Planning/publicreviewdocuments.cfm.

Contact Darrell L. Breese at 352-2267 or darrell.breese@frontiersman.com.