Plan released for borough roads

MAT-SU -- The new Statewide Transportation Improvement Program list for 2004-2006 has been released, and things are looking up for Mat-Su roads.

"The STIP, as it's constituted today, with the Murkowski administration's stamp of approval on it, puts the Mat-Su Borough in a position where it hasn't been for years, in developing those east-west connectors," said Mike Scott, the Department of Transportation's Central Region director.

When the draft version of the STIP was released earlier this year, Mat-Su Borough officials said the Central region, specifically Mat-Su and Anchorage, shouldered the majority of the cuts necessary after the state received about $100 million less than expected from the federal government.

The new STIP, as Scott and DOT Commissioner Mike Barton promised when they met with the Mat-Su Borough Assembly in October, restores some of the funding to Mat-Su projects, or moves their to-be-completed dates forward. One big change, Scott said, was the way the state looks at match funding. In comments pertaining to the draft STIP, Borough Manager John Duffy, in a letter to Barton, requested that DOT allow "flexibility for local governments to provide any required match." The draft STIP required local communities to help pay for local projects, a change Duffy said could result in the richest communities in the state obtaining the bulk of improvement funds, based on their ability to meet a necessary local match.

Scott, at the meeting, said the shift to local funding is still in effect, but clarified that the local match program won't be in effect for every road project.

"Just to make it clear, that [the match] is only on truly local projects -- local roads," Scott said. Roads on the state or national highway system, or other state roads, he said, would not require a local match, but others will. It's a matter of helping conserve resources while making sure the community is asking for a project it needs and is willing to help bring to fruition.

"There are far too many projects than we'll ever have money to fund," Scott said. "If we're going to keep up with the National Highway System, we've got to make sure we're very careful about how that's carried out."

Scott said non-monetary contributions to projects will still be considered as part of the necessary matching funds.

"I think there's plenty of activities that the borough and the state do together, that I don't think this'll be a big issue," he said.

Scott added that, in the approved STIP, there was an effort to redirect funds to where traffic counts are dense -- a request that was made by several commenters during the comment period. But those funds may not be going to places people would expect, such as expansion of the heavily used Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

"Right now, just the right-of-way acquisitions for that would be in the tens of millions of dollars," Scott said. "I think we've hit the north-south, east-west connectors in such a way that it should alleviate that problem."

The timeline has been pushed up for the Mat-Su Bogard Road Extension East, with the addition of a signalized intersection at the Glenn Highway and Dogwood Avenue, near the site of the new Fred Meyer building in Palmer. That project extends west of the Glenn Highway, behind the Carrs shopping mall -- a road Scott said will be the beginning of a western connector with Bogard Road.

"There's been a long-standing issue of concern about connecting the Glenn Highway to the Parks," Scott said. "This project is the start of that."

Other projects that may take some of the burden off the through-Wasilla portion of the Palmer-Wasilla Highway is the extension of King Arthur Drive toward Wasilla and improvements to Seward Meridian Parkway that four-lane the existing portions and punch a two-lane road through to Seldon Road, further establishing an alternative route around Wasilla.

Other projects Mat-Su residents raised concerns about have been dealt with as well, Scott said. A big project on that list was the reconstruction of Trunk Road, which was previously scheduled to begin in 2005.

"Trunk Road was on top, then it sunk," said George Williams, a member of the Transportation Advisory Board where Scott presented the approved STIP. "What the hell, it's only been on the book 20 years -- why get in a hurry? I just don't think it's ever going to be built, the way it's going."

Scott said the changes to the approved STIP could allow for advance construction to begin next year.

"That'd be great," Williams said.

A long-planned extension of South Big Lake Road is essentially back on track in the revised STIP, with the bulk of the work planned for the upcoming fiscal year. The route, Scott said, would provide Big Lake residents an alternative access route out of their area, if a major disaster such as the Millers' Reach fire were to occur again.

Murph O'Brien, chief of planning for the Mat-Su Borough, said the revised STIP was an improvement over the initial version.

"Several key projects have been brought back in and the borough's happy about that," O'Brien said. "Generally, we're pleased. We'd love to see more money for more projects -- hopefully more money will be allocated in the future."