Transportation fair Wednesday

PALMER — Transportation can mean getting the ice cream home from the store before it melts, or getting the ice cream to the store at all.

Exhibitors from almost 70 different transportation projects — the Moose Creek re-alignment in Chickaloon and Knik-Goose Bay Road improvements, for example — and area service providers will attend the 2014 Mat-Su Borough Transportation Fair this Wednesday at the Alaska State Fairgrounds.

Transportation projects affect large numbers of Valley consumers, either during the workday or on weekends, said Anne Brooks of Brooks and Associates, a public outreach firm that has helped organize the state’s oldest transportation fair since the event began in 2007.

“If people commute in the Mat-Su, if they recreate in the Mat-Su, they’re using one of these corridors that’s in the process of being upgraded,” she said.

Attendance for the event has risen every year, transportation officials and organizers said. Last year, about 400 people attended the event.

Given the number of transportation projects in the Valley — almost $50 million this year with $30 million to $40 million slated for next year in borough projects alone, with almost an equal value in state-managed transportation projects, according to borough officials — bringing the projects together under the roof of Raven Hall is all about convenience, Brooks said.

“Instead of going to 68 different meetings, they can come to one event and get a really good sense of what’s happening throughout the borough,” she said.

Many of the projects presented are smaller-scale pavement preservation project, according to Brooks.

Others are more all-encompassing, like the State’s 511 traveler information system, which updates road conditions and construction project statuses in real time via a mobile phone application, website and automated voice call-in system.

“The borough is going to have a big planning table there about their long-range transportation project they’re currently working on,” she said.

Nor are transportation projects limited to motor vehicles. For example, improvements along a road leading out to Port Mackenzie will include more options for hiking and biking, Brooks said. Other non-motor-oriented projects listed on the transportation fair website include the commuter ride service vRide, Mat-Su Community Transit, the Alaska Railroad, the Mat-Su Valley Aviation Advisory Committee, and the Safe Routes To Schools projects.

Whatever the mode of travel, the goal is transportation improvement, Brooks said.

“In the end, we’ll have a safer, smoother corridor to travel on,” she said.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.