What makes the Glenn special?

April 19, 2005

DAWN De BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - The glaciers, mountains, lakes and swiftly shifting sky views along the Glenn Highway jostle for attention as a person travels along its 189 miles.

Providing tourists and locals alike with knowledge of the area and pointing out interesting places to stop along the 135-mile stretch of the Glenn designated as a scenic byway prove to be mountainous undertakings.

The Glenn Highway Scenic Byway Partnership Board, which is heading a project to educate people about sites accessible from the highway, will hold its quarterly membership meeting today at 7 p.m. at the Palmer Public Library.

Board members and participants will discuss the upcoming dedication ceremony of six interpretive panels to be erected at the new South Palmer Station, a facility located at the Alaska State Fairgrounds.

An unveiling event has been scheduled for June 10 at 3 p.m. at the South Palmer Station.

Easy access and plenty of space for parking make the fairgrounds' new structure the ideal place to situate the interpretive panels, according to Bonnie Quill, board president.

Federal funding totaling $142,000 provided the money for the half-dozen panels, which are being produced to withstand Alaska weather.

The National Scenic Byway Grant also pays for creating a prioritized inventory of places of interest along the byway. That list will come in handy when funding becomes available for future informative pull-offs along the Glenn.

The roadside educators, now being manufactured, will supply travelers with basic facts about Alaska state parks and recreational areas, the formation of the Valley's landscape by the forces of glaciers and rivers and wind, early colonization of the Valley, the history of the Glenn Highway, what natural scenery to expect and maps of the byway.

"(These signs will indicate) the resources that make this byway special, whether it's historical, cultural or recreational resources. So people will be aware of what's along the highway. It's more than just a road," said Aneta Synan, state byways coordinator.

"The history of the making of the Glenn Highway talks about it being a transportation corridor of Native Americans. It's called 'From trails to rails to roads,'" said Quill, adding that it doesn't include much information about the Old Glenn Highway.

"Not everything is included in the panels because people are only going to stand there for so long," Quill said.

Then, it's back into the vehicle to cruise down the road, looking for signs of the geology, wildlife and state parks existing on either side of the road.

In 2000, the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities designated the Glenn Highway, which begins in north Anchorage and completes its journey in Glennallen, as an Alaska State Scenic Byway. Then, U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta listed the highway as a National Scenic Byway in June 2002.

To learn more, visit www.alaska.gov /scenic or www.byways.org.

Valley residents interested in attending the meeting may call Debbie Rinckey at 863-0319.