PROGRESS: Bogard Update at Least Three Years Away

An update to Bogard Road that would relieve congestion near a busy intersection and improve access for hundreds of area residents is at least three years away, a state official said this month.

The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities “is still in active discussions with the Matanuska-Susitna Borough planning staff to identify options” for the area, Shannon McCarthy, a spokesman for the department said in a statement this week. “Construction is still at least three years in the future.”

Bogard Road, which is primarily controlled by the Alaska Department of Transportation and stretches from Palmer into Wasilla, is largely a single lane in each direction. A new roundabout at Seldom Road was completed by the state last year, and the Borough previously installed improvements and an extension from the Glenn Highway in Palmer to North Trunk Road.

But the intersection of Bogard and North Engstrom Roads is a major source of frustration for local officials and residents. Tucked in the area between Wasilla-Fishhook Road, North Palmer-Fishhook Road and Bogard is a series of new subdivision developments, but no access to collector roads designed to handle a high volume of traffic.

Instead, Engstrom, which was originally built to handle about 600 vehicles per day, regularly handles over 3,000. And at least in part because developers aren’t required to build access roads designed to handle heavy traffic from their developments to existing collector roads like Trunk or Palmer-Fishhook, traffic instead filters on to Bogard, Borough officials noted.

Borough planners said they would like to extend Tex-Al Road to offer a way for residents in the north part of that region an easy to way to access Palmer-Fishhook. But doing so requires funding, which they do not currently have.

Future options for fixing the Engstrom intersection could include installing a roundabout, Borough officials said. But doing so may mean relocating a fire station, a step that would add substantial additional cost, they noted.

The Borough does plan one improvement for the several miles of the road under its purview: a bike path completion.

The new bike path stretch, which capital projects manager Jude Bilifer said will likely be constructed this summer, will connect the current bike path that travels along Bogard from the Glenn Highway to Colony High School, with the bike path already installed on Trunk Road.