Senate District H/Sen. Charlie Huggins

Senator touts service to district

It has been an honor to serve as your senator for the past two years. As the chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, I worked closely with my fellow Mat-Su legislators to gain funding and support for projects that the Mat-Su needs to improve, repair and maintain the infrastructure of the fastest growing area of the state.

More than $192 million has been appropriated to the Mat-Su from the last two years' capital budgets. The successful efforts of our teamwork are shown in substantial projects throughout the borough,

such as:

1- Extend Seldon Road to Pittman to King Arthur;

2- Installation of traffic lights on Fairview Road at Knik Goosebay Road, and also Vine Road at Parks Highway;

3- Hatcher Pass Road pavement extension;

4- Upgrade South Big Lake Road to connect to Burma Road;

5- Pave Pt. MacKenzie Road to the Port;

6- Chip seal test on roads in Willow and Meadow Lakes;

7- Extend Bogard Road to Glenn Highway;

8- Improvements to Old Glenn Highway, including paving, widening, intersections and turn pockets;

9- New Trooper station at Pittman and Parks Highway;

10- Significant substandard road improvements;

11- Advanced right-of-way purchase;

12- A road bypass of Wasilla.

Your winter commute to Anchorage just got safer with the installation of a new high-tech anti-icing system on the Knik River bridge that prevents ice from forming. Hopefully, this precludes the recurrence of a 20-vehicle pileup experienced a couple of years ago.

Moreover, $6.3 million is budgeted to reduce Mat-Su property owners' taxes and defray Public Employees Retirement System debt. In addition to bond debt reimbursement of 70 percent for two new schools (one in South Palmer and one in the Knik-Goosebay area), and construction improvements to Wasilla High and Wasilla Middle School, substantial funds

were budgeted directly to the following:

1- Su Valley High School received a new roof and interior upgrades;

2- new roofs are scheduled for Trapper Creek and Big Lake Elementary schools;

3- Houston High will get lights for their football field;

4- Houston Middle School will have new lockers;

5- Goosebay Elementary will receive a new driveway exit and new carpet;

6- Butte Elementary gets a new boiler;

7- Snowshoe Elementary will have new interior doors.

Just as important, education funding was increased by an unprecedented $131 million in 2006 and over $300 million in the last three years.

Emergency services received a needed funding increase for volunteer fire departments, a Houston police cruiser, a Big Lake fire tanker, a new fire training site, and search and rescue equipment. Our crime-fighting capability is substantially enhanced with the new trooper station at Pittman and Parks Highway, and the expansion of the Palmer court system, with an additional two Superior Court judges and the purchase and use of the old Valley Hospital to expand

facilities.

Considerable progress is being made to construct a 2,250-bed prison in the Mat-Su along with the required support infrastructure. This means a substantial increase in good-paying jobs opportunities in the Valley.

Our senior centers also received funding for emergency generators, carpeting and septic system improvements.

Finally, due to the decline in salmon escapement in upper Cook Inlet, a $1 million study is being conducted by the state Department of Fish and Game. This study will estimate the in-river return and escapements of adult sockeye salmon, estimate the age, sex and length composition of adult sockeye salmon, and identify sockeye salmon spawning areas.

The above-mentioned funding is based upon critical needs of our community and supported by constituents and community leaders.

I want to thank all of my constituents for your encouragement and support. I look forward to the challenges of representing our district and the interests of our Valley. It is a privilege to be part of the legislative team supporting the prosperous growth of the Mat-Su.

Sen. Charlie Huggins represents District H, which spans the non-core areas from Chugiak to Trapper Creek.