Work on new Trunk Road moves along on schedule

WASILLA — The project to straighten out Trunk Road is moving ahead and, state officials say, so far, so good.

“Everything’s going as planned, basically. We haven’t had any interruptions or changes, nothing unanticipated,” said John Waisanen, project engineer with the state’s Department of Transportation.

If you’ve driven the Palmer-Wasilla Highway or Trunk Road lately, it’s hard to miss the project. Huge machines are clearing a path and pushing dirt. At the point where the project meets the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, a big earthen berm sits covered in green paste. But, said Waisanen, crews aren’t constructing a permanent grassy hill. The berm isn’t staying.

“That’s just putting it to bed for the winter. That’s just a temporary mulch,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of material to move and a lot of it hasn’t been disturbed yet and some of it has.”

Out on the existing Trunk Road, drivers might have noticed a whole bunch of new signs. Waisanen said that is mainly just a function of the project’s signing plans. The signs don’t really point out any changes, though some of the side roads were briefly tore up as crews worked to re-route utilities in the area.

The plan, Waisanen said, is to have the project finished in 2011. But come this winter, when work stops for the season and the trucks aren’t moving anymore, will there be any new stretch to drive on?

“We’re not changing the traffic pattern for this winter,” Waisanen said. “Everything will be the same, same routes and no changes.”

The current project is just the first phase of a two-phase plan. This piece will construct a new road between the Parks and Palmer-Wasilla highways.

The new road will meet the Parks Highway at the old road’s overpass and will connect to the Palmer-Wasilla Highway 900 feet east of the road’s current intersection.

Moving the road to the east avoids some of the more dangerous pieces of the existing road, most notably the steep hill and sharp turn near the UAF Experimental Farm, project manager Jon Linnell said in a previous interview.

Scarsella Brothers, Inc., an outfit out of Washington state, won the bid to do the job.

The new Trunk Road will be a four-lane, divided road with a 55 mph speed limit from the Parks Highway all the way up to just past Bogard Road. After that the road narrows to two lanes and eventually meets back up with the old road.

The old road will remain in place for use as a local collector road, meaning that most access to the old road from side streets, businesses and driveways will remain unchanged.

Once the first phase is complete, the hope is that the second phase will be all ready to go. The state says it has purchased nearly all of the land it needs for its right-of-way.

More information, including project timetables and a list of answers to frequently asked questions, is available on the project’s Web page – trunkroad.com. Visitors to the site can also submit comments to DOT.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.