Taming P-W traffic

DOT installing lights at four additional intersections

March 12, 2006

DAWN DE BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - It may not be obvious to the daily commuter that anything is being done to tame the traffic on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway. But a solution is on the drawing board - literally.

Five employees with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities are tackling the task of designing intersections and traffic-signal placements for four intersections along the Palmer-Wasilla Highway that already have turn pockets, according to Judy Dougherty, project manager for design.

In 2007, Hemmer Road, Equestrian Street and Hyer Road, in addition to Wagon Road and Schelin Spur, which are almost directly across the highway from each other, will all receive upgrades and traffic lights with $4 million that was originally budgeted by the state for studying the road, according to Brad Sworts, Mat-Su area planner with DOT.

&#8220Those four roads already have the turnouts, and they're in high-traffic areas where a lot of people are trying to come out into the road. Adding a signal will create breaks in the traffic so people further down that need to pull out can,” Sworts said.

Dougherty said Wagon Road and Schelin Spur will become more aligned during the construction phase.

It was possible to fund the intersection upgrades and stop lights at the same time as the study because the study is a &#8220categorical exclusion” rather than a more in-depth and more expensive environmental impact study, according to Dougherty.

&#8220It's basically a check list,” she said. &#8220It's a very simple. We have almost zero ground-disturbing activities and no new paving.”

Also, the intersection improvements will not require buying any land, as the Trunk Road straightening project will, she said.

&#8220They (the four intersections) already have the turn pockets built,” she said. &#8220At the most, we may have to purchase a temporary easement on someone's property for staging during construction.”

Community concerns help put the project on the fast-track, according to Sworts.

When DOT received $6 million for impact studies on turning the popular thoroughfare into a five-lane highway, community governments stepped forward and asked DOT what improvements could be done in the meantime.

Members of the Palmer City Council, Wasilla City Council, and Mat-Su Borough Assembly, along with Valley lawmakers, submitted resolutions to DOT, saying they would support DOT transferring $4 million from the $6 million allotted for studying the Palmer-Wasilla Highway in fiscal year 2006, and putting the money toward actual traffic improvements, according to Sworts.

State lawmakers are expected to provide the project with $12 million this year - $4 million would be reimbursed for the study while the other $8 million would help pay for additional road construction, Sworts said.

&#8220We're trying to do it at a fast pace, but we don't want to do a sloppy job,” he said.

The road designs - which are now in progress - won't be completed until sometime around September, but construction on the intersections won't take place until summer 2007, Dougherty said.

&#8220What you might see out there soon is some surveying,” Dougherty said. &#8220Frankly, with this small of a job, the contractor wouldn't go out and clear brush this fall. They would wait until they fire up with the big job next spring or summer.”

The contractor who wins the bid will order the poles once they have a notice to proceed.

&#8220Those take five or six months to be shipped,” Dougherty said. &#8220There's a lot to do before putting poles up, like foundation for poles and the wiring.”

Dougherty said she wasn't sure what new designs would create light-signal poles that could withstand mega-windstorms like the one that hammered the Valley in March 2003 with gusts of up to 99 mph, prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency for some of the damaged areas.

&#8220We design to standards. You can't design for the anomaly. You can't design for the freak storm,” she said.

However, advancements in wireless technology may cut construction costs and create a more efficient traffic flow even before the five-lane highway is built, Dougherty said.

&#8220There's a new technology that allows you to time signals so that they're synchronized without connecting wires to each pole. It's wireless. We'll see if it's something that could help,” Dougherty said. &#8220If we didn't do it wireless, we would have to wait until we had a complete road upgrade for the lights to be synchronized.”

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