Speak up, help DOT get it right

Sometimes lack of participation in the public process is discouraging. We routinely see candidates elected and rules changed by a small minority of registered voters who turn out for any election and decide our collective future.

So we were thrilled when we showed up a few minutes after 4 p.m., Monday to find nearly 50 people already at a public hearing about Department of Transportation and Public Facilities plans to upgrade the Parks Highway from Mile 44 to Mile 52.

The concerns expressed ran the gamut, from economic worries about businesses with less access to safety concerns, to commuters and truckers worried about longer drive times, to concerns about effects on wildlife migration.

And yes, we are well aware that many of these people are worried about their own homes and their own businesses. We should expect people directly affected by a project would be interested in its outcome.

In our view, though, that’s a positive facet of this community involvement. Who better to help guide decisions about that road than people who live, work and drive on it every day?

It’s also a positive thing because of how many fresh faces we saw in the crowd. And by “fresh” we mean faces we hadn’t seen at other meetings.

Sure, the usual suspects were there — Wasilla officials elected and otherwise, vocal developers who dabble in politics, the city’s chamber of commerce president.

But there were a number of people we never saw when the Mat-Su Borough was considering extending Bogard Road. Or when Matanuska Electric Association debated building a coal plant.

We have not yet been swayed by the arguments against a four-lane divided highway running along that corridor, and it sounds like the state isn’t either. If the state changes its position, though, we can breathe a little easier knowing that it did so based on input from our neighbors — the same people who routinely risk their lives on that stretch of highway now.

When the trucks start rolling and new pavement is placed, maybe the whole thing will go just a little bit smoother, since so few of our neighbors will be able to say this one snuck up on them, that they hadn’t heard what the state was planning until it was too late.

It’s an advantage for our community that we are such a varied group. In this case, it means diverse views on this subject will be communicated to DOT to help its staff resolve some of the project’s design and access issues now — years before the first shovel of dirt is turned.

Many thanks to our neighbors who gave of their time Monday night to help guide DOT through this process. We are confident your investment will yield better results for all of us.