Assembly picks red route for Bogard

PALMER—Assembly Members for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough agreed tonight on the red route, the most southern route for the Bogard Road extension.

The new corridor will provide a second west to east connection between Wasilla and Palmer. The overall project begins with two lanes of traffic, but includes enough right-of-way for future expansion to four lanes. The corridor will begin near Trunk Road and run east to the Glenn Highway, entering at Arctic Avenue. Three proposals were under consideration.

The unanimous vote came after 10 p.m. at the crowded Palmer Depot. The resolution includes an amendment that narrows the proposed 200-foot "rural" corridor to a 150-foot "urban" corridor near Palmer High School between Felton Street and Hemmer Road. The plan is to build an urban section from the future intersection of Hemmer Road to the Glenn Highway. The urban roadway would lend itself to more of a parkway with features such as a center landscaped median, walkways on both sides of the road, a bike path, and curbs and gutters. Rural corridors have side ditches instead of gutters.

Twenty-three people spoke on the road extension, most of them opposed to building any route. Among them were farmers, supporters of preserving agricultural lands, and residents of nearby subdivisions.

For more than an hour, Assembly Members questioned staff and tried to garner each other's votes on various amendments. Some considered a no build alternative. This meeting was one of many.

In a recent Ivan Moore survey, 69.4 percent of residents who were surveyed supported building the extension of Bogard Road to the Glenn Highway.

The single east-west corridor today is the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, which presently carries nearly 17,000 vehicles a day, 7,000 more than a two-lane road is designed to carry. The congestion contributes to accidents. Between 1977 and 2005, 25 fatalities occurred on the road. Some 1,662 accidents have occurred on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway in the last 17 years. Four traffic signals are expected to be installed this summer. The heavy traffic is diverting drivers onto smaller side roads already. Widening the Palmer-Wasilla Highway would cost $200 million.

The extension is expected to cost about $40 million. The Borough has, to date, $12 million for the project.

Traffic modeling shows expansion from two to four lanes will not be anticipated to occur within the next 25 years.

For more information call project manager Brad Sworts at 746-9430 or visit the project web page at www.bogardroad.com