Wasilla City Council listens to Parks Highway alternative corridor project presentation

WASILLA — The Wasilla City council listened to a presentation regarding the Parks Highway Alternative Corridor Planning and Environmental Linkages Study and associated partnership agreement.

Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities project manager Kelly Summers and DOWL project manager Renee Whitesell discussed the alternative corridor project with an accompanying slideshow presentation.

Whitesell said that DOT identified a need for an alternative corridor to the Parks Highway since the 1980s but no projects have successfully moved forward despite numerous studies. She said the need for an alternative corridor in the Mat-Su Valley has increased due to the high population growth with accompanying traffic flow and congestions.

According to the project website, the plan calls for the development of an alternate highway corridor that connects to the Parks Highway between the Hyer Road Interchange and West Hawk Lane.

“Our goal is to actually see that corridor built out there at some stage in the future,” Whitesell said.

Whitesell said the alternative corridor project will take approximately three years to complete. She said they’re hosting a public open house meeting March 28 to present the baseline conditions and draft purpose and need. She said they’ll move on to identify and narrow down alternatives to a single preferred alternative then research sustainable funding and logistical phases. She said they’re also holding other public meetings throughout the year.

“There are many opportunities for public outreach,” Whitesell said.

Whitesell said they have a technical advisory committee and a stakeholder advisory committee supporting the alternative corridor project. She said the City of Wasilla has a representative in the technical advisory committee who asked the project team to present to the city council and request a resolution to sign a partnership agreement.

“It’s a resolution to work together,” Whitesell said.

After the presentation, councilmember Stu Graham said there was already an alternative parks highway corridor, the Bogard road extension.

Whitesell said the northern portion, including the Bogard extension, is a circular network within the Mat-Su while their proposed plan is part of the national highway system.

Graham said that he would like to see DOT and DOWL expand the project area, noting that the alternative corridor issue has been talked about for a long time with no real results other than Bogard.

“I think we’ve been looking at this for 40 years. There have even been some studies on potential routes and progress has always been zero on this,” Graham said.”It seems to me we’re beating a dead horse here. It’s federal money, but that doesn’t mean that we need to spend it.”

For more information about the Parks Highway Alternative Corridor Planning and Environmental Linkages Study, visit parkshighwayalternative.com.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com