RR unveils plans

Track straightening on the horizon

January 29, 2006

DAWN DE BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - Patrick Clark bought his home in Richmond View Estates in south Wasilla in 1998, and now he's wondering whether he'll still be living there if one proposed route to realign the Alaska Railroad Corp.'s train tracks is favored.

&#8220If Route A goes through, we'll lose our house,” Clark said Thursday of his $300,000 home, located about 100 yards from the railroad tracks. He said about another 25 to 30 homes in that same price range could be affected by potential track changes. &#8220They're very tight-lipped about what's going to happen. There's less information here than we've gotten before. I'd like to find out what the time frames are. Not knowing what's going on is the big thing. I can't plan.”

Clark and about 90 Valley residents - from homeowners to elected officials - attended an open house at Evangelo's restaurant in Wasilla on Thursday to preview the ARRC's 2006 program of projects, which covers the entire rail system, between Seward and Fairbanks.

Although talk of creating a route that would funnel both the train and the Parks Highway traffic away from the center of Wasilla has been the buzz for a while, straightening some of the curves where the tracks travel parallel to the Glenn Highway and then with the Parks Highway is closer on the horizon, ARRC spokesman Tom Thompson said.

There are about a dozen curves between Knik River bridge and Wasilla Lake that the corporation would like to see straightened, claiming that it would decrease the likelihood of derailment as well as make fuel use and travel time more efficient.

Engineering blueprints for realigning the tracks are still in early stages, so homeowners really haven't expressed concern with the various proposals, according to Bruce Carr, ARRC director of strategic planning, who answered most of the questions asked by the public Thursday night.

&#8220The people who live where the lines have been drawn are here and want to know what they mean,” Tom Brooks, ARRC chief engineer, said.

Garden Terrace Estates residents Donna and Gregg Peters have heard the train will likely no longer use the tracks near their home, and wanted to know about the future of the vacated parcel of land. The Peters were informed it would take legislative approval for anything to be done with the railroad property. The state owns the land, and it's usually retained as a utility corridor, according to Brooks.

The couple looks forward to watching the value of their property take a jump when the railroad builds alternative tracks and quits using the ones passing by Gregg Peters' shop.

&#8220I wanted to know if the railroad would sell the property, and I wanted first dibs,” he said. &#8220It's right in our back yard. That would increase my half acre to 1 acre.”

Contact Dawn De Busk at 352-2252 or dawn.debusk@

frontiersman.com.