Right-of-way acquisition, roundabouts discussed at Seward Meridian meeting

March 15, 2005

DAWN De BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - A project designed to transform the Seward Meridian Parkway into a five-lane highway will most likely involve purchasing rights of way from property and business owners and relocating residents along the roadway, an Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities official said at a scoping meeting held last week in Mat-Su.

Kim Rice, preliminary design and environmental chief with DOT, said the road's final design remains in the planning phase.

"The new road is much wider than the old road that we can't avoid taking property," said Rice, adding that the property that would be at stake depends on which design is adopted.

Three variations of a 200-foot-wide corridor for the Seward Meridian Parkway project, as well as traffic analysis reports and a map with sticky-notes for public comment, were some of the ways information was presented to Valley residents during the March 9 open house at Teeland Middle School.

Also, two pamphlets were handed out to homeowners - "Acquiring Real Property For Federal and Federal-Aid Programs and Projects" and "Relocation Services for Residential Property."

"This was a scary meeting. It shocked me and a lot of other people. We were arguing about a 150-foot corridor and now we're looking at 200 feet," said homeowner Dan Aldrich.

Last week's open house, which was sponsored by DOT and CH2M Hill, the engineering firm hired to design the road project, was part of the process of gathering public input, a requirement of a two-year environmental impact study that will most likely total $1.5 million. Studies for improvements to the Seward Meridian Parkway began in December 2003 and should conclude by May, according to Cynthia Ferguson, DOT projects manager.

Designs would take a year, while right-of-way negotiations generally take two years, Rice said.

Right-of-way talks and the drawing of designs can happen concurrently, she said.

A GARVEE bond will fund the studies and right-of-way acquisitions. The total bond amount is $7.5 million, with $1.5 million spent on a traffic light. Eighty-five percent of the bond must be used by April 2006.

The projected cost of road construction will be between $20 to $30 million, according to Ferguson.

"We're anticipating construction by 2008," she said.

The project will turn the Seward Meridian Parkway from a two-lane road into a five-lane highway with a bike and pedestrian path. The widening will first take place along two miles of the road between the Parks Highway and Bogard Road. Seward Meridian, which would continue after being punched through to Seldon Road, would give drivers a more direct route to the Park Highway and reduce the number of cars taking shortcuts through residential areas as a means of getting to "town."

The ongoing construction to create better alignment where Bogard and Seward Meridian meet is also part of DOT's project. The existing traffic light will be replaced either by another traffic light or a roundabout, also called a rotary, will be constructed.

"I'm concerned about access. They've ripped that road up twice," said Sharon Ford, who has owned and operated Stepping Stone Child Care at that intersection for 10 years. "Some of these propositions come right through my property. If they buy me out at fair market value, it won't be enough to find a location that would still serve the Cottonwood Creek area. This would impact a lot of families."

If the Stepping Stone building were spared, parents would still have to cross two lanes of traffic to turn into the business' parking area.

Three possibilities for the proposed Seward-Meridian corridor involved constructing from the center line out, constructing to the west of the road or expanding construction to the east of the existing road.

Dr. William Imlach owns three lots west of Seward Meridian. Depending on which corridor is selected, he would lose between half and three-quarters of the lot closest to the road.

He said his property would be avoided if the bike path weren't built.

"But I'd hate to see them do it without a bike path. I'd rather see four lanes and a bike path," Imlach said.

Don Frisbee, who moved into a home off Naomi Avenue about six months ago, stands to lose his garage.

"It's hard to pull out of the driveway," he said.

"We understand the state's need to build this road. But this is a giant road. It's the same size as the road in front of Nye Frontier Ford," said Fred Dicer, who owns a four-plex on the east side of the road. "There's a wonderful group of people living here along the Seward Meridian Road. And we don't want to be pushing the road back and forth onto the other people's property. We don't want to lose our property and we don't want our neighbors to lose theirs. I think a retaining wall would solve this."

DOT's Rice said retaining walls could be discussed during negotiations with individual homeowners.

Homeowners Marie Webb, who lives directly behind the Sears building on the west side of the road and Aldrich, who lives north of Webb, also support the idea of retaining walls as a way of keeping their properties next to the busy road.

"I was told DOT has dropped all consideration of retaining walls," said Aldrich, who added that early-on plans after initial public input included retaining walls.

"I want to see the use of retaining walls. It's cheaper for the state to take our property than put in retaining walls," Dicer said.

CH2M Hill Transportation Engineer James W. Potts said the options of building west of the road or building east of the road were fairly equal in price. He said it would cost about the same to move the utilities on the east side or purchase the right of way on the west side.

"We might as well take all the property (rather than just a section) to give flexibility in plans," he said, adding that it gives engineers enough room to accommodate plans. "By the same token, we will take into consideration, during the design stage, the homeowners' needs."

"There's a very detailed process to require right of way. It's set out in law. It's a difficult process. There's a lot of steps between this point and when the acquisition actually begins," said Murph O'Brien, of the Mat-Su Borough Development Department. O'Brien is a past employee of DOT.

"What's being shown is the corridor. We'll see if there are ways to narrow down the impacts, firm up the corridor and agree on a preferred alternative," he said.

"The borough is very interested in this project. It's a very important project," O'Brien said, adding the new road will become a critical north/south arterial.

"What we build today we have to live with tomorrow," said Don Clausen, who resides off Fairview Loop but owns seven undeveloped lots in Woodfield Estates. "I say 'Amen.' It's a much-needed project. Five years down the road, we'll be questioning ourselves: 'Why didn't we do it sooner?' Good and thoughtful planning has gone into this."

A traffic analysis conducted in 2003 revealed that during peak traffic hours, 10,200 vehicles drove past the intersection of Seward-Meridian Parkway and Palmer-Wasilla Highway. The projection for 2018 is almost twice that, at 18,370. The number of vehicles passing the intersection of Seward Meridian and Bogard two years ago was 10,500 and is expected to be almost 18,910 by 2018.

Based on traffic turning patterns, 6,886 drivers in 2018 would use Seward Meridian if it went all the way to Seldon. By 2028, that number could be as high as 10,358.

Another interesting aspect of the open house was the idea of a roundabout at the intersection of Bogard and Seward Meridian. The roundabout, a fixture of many roads in Europe and New England, is experimental in Alaska. A roundabout was recently constructed at the Dowling Road and Seward Highway intersection in Anchorage.

Jon Svendsen, who owns property above Mud Lake along Cottonwood Creek, has lived in Europe and is familiar with roundabouts.

He said roundabouts reduce the number of accidents, take up less land than a four-way stop, handle three times more traffic, help motorists conserve fuel, save money that would have been used for maintenance of traffic lights, eliminate the worries associated with traffic lights being incapacitated by wind storms and cost less.

"In a roundabout, you yield to the other driver who gets there first," Svendsen said. "There might be more fender-benders initially, but there won't be T-bone accidents that could injure or kill someone, like happens with people running stop lights."

Svendsen said he thinks the roundabout is more likely to go in than the traffic signal because it's been proven safer nationally.

Some business owners showed frustration over the Bogard-Seward Meridian intersection being the center of construction for several summers in a row, only to still be in line for further construction. Other people commented on the wasted money to replace a brand-new traffic light.

"That stop light will be recycled for another roads project," said Ferguson, adding that it was an interim traffic light from the beginning.

A related project, last summer's construction to upgrade the Parks Highway from the Seward Meridian west to Crusey Street, will be continuing. Those improvements, which will be done this summer, will change the Parks Highway into a five-lane divided highway with frontage roads.

The www.sewardmeridian.com Web site should be updated later this month with new information from last week's meeting. Those interested in playing a driving game on a roundabout may check out www.alaskaroundabout.com.

The next scoping meeting will be held in late May, Ferguson said.