Public positive about couplet

WASILLA — A solution more than three decades in the making that would create a couplet of one-way roads to alleviate tangled downtown traffic is earning high marks with city residents.

Dozens of people filed into Fire Station No. 61 Wednesday evening for an open house and presentation outlining the Wasilla Main Street Project, the state Department of Transportation’s preferred plan to improve traffic flow through the downtown area.

By making Main Street one-way south from Bogard Road to the Parks Highway and Yenlo Street one-way north from the Parks to Bogard, the city can essentially triple its capacity to carry traffic, said Murph O’Brien, project manager for HDR Alaska Inc., an engineering firm charged with exploring alternatives.

The couplet, called Alternative D, is favored by the city and state, O’Brien said, and seemed to meet with general approval from residents.

Kathy Sage attended to learn more about how the project could affect her business, which fronts off Main Street.

“We have a business, Alaska Center for Dentistry, on Main Street across from the post office,” she said. “We would definitely be affected. This is the first I’ve really heard of it, and I think traffic is a problem there. I think a light would definitely be helpful at the corner of Main Street and Swanson.”

Initially, Sage said she was concerned about how any improvements might affect land takings through right of way acquisition, but was relieved to learn Alternative D doesn’t need any along Main Street.

“That makes me happy,” she said. “My main concern was how much they’re going to widen Main Street. … It does get crowded.”

By making Main Street one-way south, all that would be required is cosmetic upgrades, O’Brien said. Those include new pavement, restriping of lanes and installing new lights and sidewalks.

Overall, the Wasilla Main Street Project will cost about $26 million, most of which will come from federal funds, O’Brien said.

For Barbara Miller, who has lived south of the city limits for nearly 40 years, the upgrades can’t happen quickly enough. She said downtown traffic has been a worsening problem for decades.

“I’m tired of waiting in line just to get into the post office, much less if I want to go into a shop or someplace else,” she said.

Miller likes the couplet because “it will split traffic, it will still allow businesses to stay in business and it will make a smoother traffic (flow).”

Miller also said she believes the downtown area needs to be made more safe for motorists and pedestrians. Safety was addressed in one of the exhibits on display at the open house, a crash reduction summary.

Based on accident numbers from 1999-2009 where there were 510 vehicle crashes in the affected area of downtown, the summary estimates a couplet would have reduced the number of crashes on Main Street by 150, while crashes on Talkeenta and Yenlo streets would increase by 98, making for a total reduction of 52, or 10.2 percent.

Miller also pointed out that many of the city’s current downtown traffic woes could have been averted long ago.

“When they built the Parks Highway, if (the state Department of Transportation) had been able to do it the way they wanted to, it would’ve been much better,” she said. “But, we have a group of old people (and now I am one of those) from Wasilla who chained themselves to a tree on the railroad depot side of the Parks Highway because they didn’t want that tree destroyed. So, the DOT gave in to them (and altered the route). Three years later, the tree died.”

While most seemed to approve of Alternative D, others who would be directly affected by the change had questions. John Weaver owns a 44-unit housing development near Yenlo along the proposed couplet route. When looking at the plans before O’Brien’s presentation, he expressed concern about increased congestion through the subdivision.

“We know there’s a need for a plan to eliminate the traffic, but we have a subdivision right here off of Swanson Street, so in our case, our particular interest is that it goes right through it,” he said. “Eventually, this is all going to be housing, and they’re going to put a thoroughfare through it, so that’s our concern.”

During Wednesday’s question and answer period, however, Weaver said his concerns were alleviated when he learned that while Yenlo will be three lanes wide from where it connects to Talkeetna Avenue south of the Parks Highway to Swanson, it will go back to two lanes from Swanson to Bogard. That means the road won’t be widened through his subdivision.

The reason Yenlo can reduce its flow there, O’Brien said, is because enough traffic will be turning west and east onto the newly improved Swanson Avenue.

In addition to collecting written comments as planners continue to draft an environmental impact statement, which is required with federally funded projects, O’Brien fielded questions. Following is a sampling of area residents’ concerns and his responses:

Question: Will Yenlo have to be widened, and how much right of way will have to be acquired to do that?

Answer: Yes, the street will be widened to three lanes one-way north to Swanson, where it will be two lanes wide. As for right of way acquisition, there will have to be some, but until the final traffic flow is set it’s difficult to determine how much.

Q: Because the couplet plan includes creating a new railroad crossing by extending Yenlo Street south, will Alaska Railroad Corp. have veto power over the project?

A: The railroad actually likes Alternative D because, while it creates another crossing, the crossings will now be on one-way streets and the railroad can put in full arms that block the entire road, which isn’t possible with a two-way crossing.

Q: Wasilla City Councilwoman Taffina Katkus asked how the couplet would affect downtown parking for businesses, and which of the various plans is better for pedestrians?

A: “A couple things we’re looking at, and we’ve been working with the city of Wasilla and the mayor to (allow) wherever we can on-street parking,” O’Brien said. “We’ll be looking at that going forward. How successful will be we? We’ll be as successful as we can be.”

He added that because Main Street won’t have to be widened, there should be little to no impact on current parking.

As for being pedestrian friendly, the couplet is also the best, as it would include decorative street lighting and more sidewalks along Main Street.

Q: How far apart along the Parks Highway will the two railroad crossings be? Also, is there potential for trains stopping at the depot to tie up both crossings?

A: “Yes,” was the short answer. At a little more than 600 feet apart, there is potential for trains stopping at the depot to also block the new crossing at Talkeetna Street. “We may not be able to get around that all the time,” O’Brien said.

Q: Years ago, the state had talked about building an overpass for the tracks at Main Street. Why is that not still an option?

A: The city asked the state to not continue that plan because it called for widening Main Street from three lanes to five. To widen it that much would take significant tracts of land from business and property owners along Main.

Contact reporter Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

Q: What about the grade on Yenlo?

A: Yenlo is significantly high in grade near its projected intersection with Talkeetna as it extends south to Knik-Goose Bay Road, and that’s a problem engineers are working on. “There’s a choke point there and that’s a design issue,” O’Brien said. “It’s something we’re taking a look at.”

Q: At Yenlo and Bogard, the plan is for flared turn lanes so there would be two left turn lanes and one right onto Bogard. Does that mean Bogard is going to be widened to four lanes between Yenlo and Main Street?

A: Probably not. There will likely be a three-lane configuration on Bogard for that stretch — two lanes west and one east.