Prefers the road less widened

To the editor:

I live beside a road in the community of Big Lake. We have been in line for a road project for several years, and it seems this year may mark the beginning since funds are now available.

I am not opposed to road improvements; however, I have issues with the way this one is going forward.

One of the first items to be paid for will be property acquisition. We are among several residents who will be highly impacted by this acquisition. It will take up much of our backyard, which presently has a chain-link fence, a buried lawn sprinkler system, buried timber, decorative trees and buried power, telephone and natural gas lines. The purpose of this acquisition is to “realign” the road and turn it into a 100-foot-wide project.

Neither we nor many of our neighbors understand the need for these expensive overkill activities. It’s not like this is the Parks Highway. It is a very rural road that has been in place for more than 50 years and most of the people who own property here are “weekenders.”

The realignment is not needed. None of us mind going around a curve, and our neighbors have never complained about the present road going through their property. This portion of the project will cost the Mat-Su Borough a great deal of money to purchase property, resurvey, develop an environmental impact statement and relocate power utilities for something that is not necessary.

Making the road footprint 100 feet will also be extremely costly and also not needed, especially when we’ve been told the actual road will probably be only 24 feet wide. The reason given for this portion of the project is to make room for utilities and snow removal.

We already have natural gas and power. It will be a gazillion years before this area will have city services such as water and sewer, so we’re not certain what utilities planners are referring to. We also don’t know why the acquisition couldn’t be made at the time other utilities become available.

Our snow removal consists of a contracted company person whizzing down the road in a pick-up truck with a blade. Every once in a while we see a road grader. I’ve been on this road since before statehood and there has never been a time when 38 feet of space on each side of the road has been needed for removing snow.

We also understand that the 100-foot road is now the “standard” for the borough, so we assume that is written in stone, with no room to use good judgment or common sense.

I get weary of borough officials proclaiming to be “fiscal conservatives” when they don’t seem to be able to practice that in reality. It is our opinion these decisions have been made by people who probably have never even driven out here to see how their decisions impact those of us who live here. If similar decisions are being made borough-wide, money is being wasted that could be used where it’s really needed.

Carolyn McClintock

Big Lake