Rail corridor study begins with testimony

TRACY KALYTIAK/Frontiersman staff

The Mat-Su Borough Assembly tonight will take public testimony on an ordinance that will amend borough code to include a rail corridor study borough officials consider a key element of the Port MacKenzie development project.

The public hearing about including the June 2003 Tryck Nyman and Hayes rail corridor study will begin at 7 p.m. in the Assembly Chambers.

"Since the advertised title of the ordinance did not adequately alert the public that particular routes would be adopted, I have asked the Borough Clerk to expand and amend the title and re-advertise the ordinance," a Jan. 14 e-mail from Assembly Member Jody Simpson stated. "Therefore, on 1/18, we will hold the public hearing, close it, and then set another hearing on another date, and continue the public notice."

The borough hired Tryck Nyman and Hayes to determine a mix of railroad and highway options that would provide efficient, safe access for those who would be moving material into and out of the port, while being generally acceptable to residents of the area and resulting in as few environmental consequences as possible.

Adoption of the ordinance will, effectively, adopt what are known as highway corridor no. 7 - the existing road alignment from the Parks Highway through Big Lake Road, South Big Lake Road and down Burma, Ayrshire and Point MacKenzie roads - and rail corridor no. 3, the future rail-road alignment from Willow to Port MacKenzie, which will run from the Parks Highway near Willow down to the port, staying west of Red Shirt and Nancy lakes.

"Potential highway and railroad route options were identified and analyzed in the study for present and future performance in areas of connectivity, congestion, safety, impacts to property owners, impacts to adjacent land use, and potentially the socio-economic and environmental impacts," stated an information memorandum approved by Mat-Su Borough Manager John Duffy. "From these analyses came key findings regarding the present and future performance and impacts of the potential routes. These findings formed the basis for a route recommendation."

The borough's transportation advisory board, on Nov. 17, recommended the inclusion of the rail corridor study in the overall Mat-Su Borough comprehensive plan. The borough's planning commission made the same recommendation in a resolution adopted Dec. 6.