Su Valley gets its stripes - on the highway

August 12, 2007

By John R. Moses/Frontiersman

TALKEETNA - State transportation officials went to the new home of Su Valley Jr./Sr. High School for a strategy meeting on how to avoid Parks Highway traffic dangers once the new campus opens Aug. 20 near Mile 98.

&#8220They were on the campus today,” Department of Transportation Spokesman Rick Feller said Thursday. &#8220There's a long list of potential solutions to problems we have up there.”

That was good news to many who were worried the state wouldn't act in time, but some took away few assurances that all the school's needs will be met on a timely basis.

&#8220They were measuring,” said Jenny Krepel, who is one busy Parent Teacher Student Advisory secretary. She and many others have their hands full helping Su Valley Jr./Sr. High rise like a proverbial phoenix from the ashes of a campus that burned June 5.

Krepel said the re-striping project is important, but the school also needs a gravel turn lane added to the side of the highway and a 45 mph speed zone. That, she said, will take some money.

Mat-Su Borough officials had also wanted answers to questions about when and how the state would amend road striping on the Parks Highway at Helena Road, the temporary campus. They asked for flashing warning lights there as well as the road improvements. Borough Manager John Duffy wrote a letter last month asking the state to put the project into high gear.

&#8220That's exactly what we're doing,” Feller said.

Flashing lights, speed zones and more are on the table, but everything won't happen at once, Feller said. Thursday's meeting was a chance &#8220to see what was doable” by the time school starts Aug. 20. &#8220Then there are some longer-term things that may be staged.”

Feller said the state and Borough will work together to fix what will be a two-year problem as the permanent campus is rebuilt.

While assured the road painting job won't fall to Su Valley's art students, Krepel said some sort of crosswalk and new signage is urgently needed. The temporary campus is across the busy Parks Highway from the old campus' athletic fields and ski and cross-country trails. Road signage also needs to be addressed soon to let drivers, especially bus and truck drivers, know there will be more cross traffic than before from Trapper Creek and Talkeetna area residents due to the campus' change of location.

Krepel has begun calling those companies to warn drivers about the coming traffic changes and said the firms have been grateful for the information.

&#8220They're on a blind corner telling people to speed up,” she said of some traffic signs.

The Borough manager's July 26 letter asks state Department of Transportation and Public facilities Commissioner Leo von Scheben for help because, &#8220Currently, the safety of students is greatly jeopardized as they are making a right- and left-hand turning movement to and from the Parks Highway and to Helena Street.”

Duffy lists some immediate concerns:

€ There is a turn lane to accommodate traffic from Talkeetna and Trapper Creek, but it is not long enough to allow buses and vehicles going to the campus to stack up. That means traffic into the school will block the Parks Highway.

€ There is no right turn lane, so traffic from Willow and Caswell will block Parks Highway traffic while turning into Helena Street to reach the campus. Parks Highway traffic, Duffy said, usually moves at around 60 mph.

€ Traffic there will move too fast for a school entrance unless the state acts now.

&#8220We also request a 45 mph speed limit be created near this intersection with appropriate warning signals in order to reduce speed and promote traffic safety,” Duffy says in his letter.

Contact John R. Moses at 352-2270, or e-mail john.moses-@frontiersman.com.