Prep for Old Glenn work continues

May 17. 2005

DAWN DE BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - "They've been promising to get this road fixed for 20 years," said Ron Fellman, who owns Boot Hill Auto Salvage, along the Old Glenn Highway. "Every two years, they send surveyors through here, but nothing ever happens."

It may be another two summers before construction begins, according to Judy Dougherty, project manager for the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities.

This summer, DOT will acquire rights of way for a $9.5-million project to repave the Old Glenn Highway, add 6-foot shoulders on each side of the road, and connect a bike path from Clark-Wolverine Road to downtown Palmer's pathways, Dougherty said.

A public meeting will allow the community to speak out and catch up on DOT's progress for making the old homesteader road more safe for an increasing population. That open house will be held Tuesday from 6 - 8 p.m. in the Butte Elementary School gymnasium.

"They should straighten some of these curves out. Even that new section past the store, where the ditches are pretty deep. I figured I'd see a lot more wrecks," said J. Bear, Palmer resident and owner of J. Bear Auto Services & Towing on Plumley Road.

"You get off the lip a little bit and it drags you into the ditch," Bear said, referring to the short straight-of-way by Grizzly Towing's yard, just before the Butte Store.

"The police call the S-curve before my place Boot Hill Curve. We're the first place people come to when they need to use a phone because there's been another wreck," Fellman said.

Improving highway safety remains DOT's first priority in approaching this project, Dougherty said.

The widened shoulders should address some of the safety issues. Although the upgrade will follow the current road, there will be some places where curves will be straightened out.

The turn pocket to Clark-Wolverine Road will be upgraded, while new turning lanes will be added at Maud, Smith and Plumley roads, Dougherty said. Also, Back Acres Avenue will be aligned to tee off with Bodenburg Loop.

The road upgrade will affect about 30 parcels of land, she said.

"We only need a sliver," said Dougherty, adding that she doesn't foresee having to relocate any homeowners. The rights-of-way acquisition should be tied up by December 2006, she said.

Actual construction, which is slated to start in spring/summer 2007, will cost $5.5 million. The funding for rights-of-way purchases totals $1 million; while $2 million has been set aside for relocating utilities. Another $1 million is applicable to design expenditures. That money comes from state general obligation bonds and statewide transportation improvement program funding.

The task of moving existing utilities will eat up a portion of the budget, Dougherty said.

" A lot of money gets spent on relocating the various utilities like power, phone, natural gas, fiber optics and television wires," she said. "Unfortunately, we can't spend the money on something people can actually see."

Residents along the Old Glenn Highway will be able to view and use a bike and pedestrian path that will run from Clark-Wolverine Road, cross the Matanuska River Bridge and network into Palmer's existing trails.

"Our bike trails take people along ATV dirt trails and through the woods. With the money they spent on those twin bike trails (along the Parks Highway), they could have put a bike trail along the entire Old Glenn," Fellman said.

"With this particular project, we can't deliver everything everyone wants. I know people would like to see bike paths the whole length, but we'd have to purchase more rights of way and we'd jeopardize homes," Dougherty said.

Dawn De Busk can be reached at 352-2252, or at dawn.debusk

@frontiersman.com.