Traffic flagger eases road work headaches

WASILLA — If the Seldon-Lucille intersection construction is getting you down, be on the lookout for “Papa Taylor” to brighten your day.

Phase one of the Seldon Road and Lucille Street upgrade is underway, and as the high traffic area narrows to one lane, one peppy flagger — Mike Taylor, or as one Facebook user referred to him as “the world’s happiest flagger” — is taking his job to the next level, dancing and waving at people in their cars to cheer them up.

“He just makes ya want to get out and dance with him,” another Facebook user wrote.

Mat-Su Borough Capital Projects Director Mike Brown even suggested it “might be fun” to create and present Taylor with a “Most Valuable Flagger” award.

“I have noticed him on many occasions going well above and beyond the typical duties of a flagger, and he often shows incredible patience with people who are in less than favorable moods!” said project construction manager Trent Farris in an email. “He is making a great contribution to the safety, efficiency, success and public image of the project.”

While the men and women walking around in orange vests this time of year aren’t required to put on a show for people in passing cars, Mat-Su Borough Public Affairs Director Patty Sullivan said she “noticed that flagger as well,” calling him “very funny and robust.”

Operations and Maintenance Division Project Manager Bob Walden also commented on Taylor’s ability to soothe stressed drivers and passengers.

“Last week, I shook his hand right in the middle of the intersection and told him what a great job he was doing,” Walden said. “He really has fun out there and it does make the grumpy people even smile.”

While Walden said not to “try this at home,” so to speak, to avoid any traffic incidents, Taylor’s supervisor Steve Spidal was willing to showcase his “one of a kind” employee by giving the man a break for an interview with the Frontiersman.

“The faster I move, the faster traffic moves,” Taylor said in simple explanation of his antics. “We’re not here to inconvenience anyone, we’re here to build a road.”

The project will upgrade approximately 1.25 miles of Seldon Road (from North Wards Road to Kintrye Lane) and approximately 1.20 miles of Lucille Street (from Spruce Avenue to Lochcarron Drive).

The project has numerous components, including, according to a fact sheet the borough put out on the project:

• widening the entire roadway

• adding a bike path on Seldon

• increasing sight distance at the intersection of Seldon and Lucille

• improving access to Tanaina Elementary School

• reducing the number of intersecting side streets

• improving drainage

• relocating utilities

To, Taylor, however, accomplishing these goals is not just a matter of checking items off a list.

“If I do a bad job, people think QAP does a bad job, and that’s not right,” Taylor said.

QAP, formerly Quality Asphalt and Paving, is the company Taylor works for as a flagger, and is owned by the Colaska branch of the international Colas Group.

On Saturday, the day of his Frontiersman interview, Taylor waved and smiled at passersby in trucks and cars alike, to people with dogs, parents with kids and solo drivers. Many smiled and waved back — some with even more enthusiasm — but none of them actually knew Taylor before construction started (except maybe his grandson, who rides by almost every day).

Those who have come to recognize “Papa Taylor” as they make their way to work or run errands in the Seldon-Lucille area probably don’t know much about the man himself, nor his history.

Taylor came to Alaska in 1979 from southern Illinois with U.S. Air Force as an air traffic controller. Taylor has been retired from air traffic controlling for 34 years, but isn’t quite finished with the working world yet.

“I work to pay my taxes,” he said, laughing.

That, and he would like to be able to go on vacation with his wife once in a while, he said.

But Taylor might not have ended up where he is today without making a very important life decision, and an impressive recovery.

In January of this year, Taylor was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was an avid smoker at the time, he said, and his wife has had cancer twice, so he quit smoking immediately after learning his diagnosis.

Now, Taylor is cancer-free. He said he intends to work as a flagger for “at least two to five more years” before retiring altogether. Maybe.

Spidal said they expect phase one of the Seldon-Lucille project to be completed in the next six to eight weeks, but they will probably “work until the snow flies.” The road will close for one or two weeks after Labor Day for concrete work, he said.

In the meantime, smile and wave when traveling through the construction zone — Papa Taylor will be there.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.