Meadow Lakes Collector Roads

The story below ran in the Meadow Lakes Press back in March 2007; Tom Kluberton's response to the public meetings held in regards to the Parks Highway.

Last week I heard these reactions to the DOT & PF's plan for upgrading the Parks Highway through Meadow Lakes, "that design is the dumbest thing I ever saw", and"it's more dangerous than a suicide lane."  I had a hard time understanding over the phone, so I searched out a set of the drawings.  One look and I had the same reaction.  Wasilla, in the 70's faced the same challenge to create a highway both supporting cross-traffice to local businesses while allowing through-traffic the best travel time to their destination.  Wasilla deferred to the first goal, and is still paying the price for ignoring through traffic needs.

The 2005 Meadow Lakes Comprehensive Plan calls for exactly the right stuff, "an attractive, safe, and efficient route that better separates through and local traffic", "controlled 4 lane highway", minimize driveways and intersections", "gain access from frontage roads".  Why didn't those materialize in the DOT & PF plans?  The best clue appears in the next paragraph of the Comp Plan, "....a possible by-pass of the Parks Highway through Southern Wasilla".  Such a by-pass is under consideration, but not yet well defined.

For good decisions to be made, the borough and the DOT & PF have to make some firm plans for the projects being considered to solve the valley's traffic issues.  Without specifics like this defined, it will be all-but-impossible to properly design the upgrade of the existing Parks Highway route.  Thanks in large part to the collective voice of Meadow Lakes, the Borough is taking steps to bring DOT & PF management to the table to address these questions.  Only when we know more of the whole picture, will it be practical to formulate the right highway design for Meadow Lakes.  I'm looking forward to working with the community to ensure that the right things happen.

At the Town Hall meeting held a couple of weeks ago, it was verified that the portion of the Parks Highway running through Meadow Lakes would not be part of the shovel-ready stimulus money.  The upgrade is currently projected to begin in 2011.  The community does have some decisions that needs to work hand in hand with this upgrade.

Some time ago, Charlie Huggins came to the MLCC with news that a project has been funded ($6M) to construct ‘Connector Roads’ in the Meadow Lakes area to provide for routes between existing roads that allow local traffic to stay off the Parks Hwy.  This is viewed as an interim safety measure while the ADOT&PF continues to figure out how to approach the area.  Borough Manager John Duffy and our Assembly Representative Tom Kluberton will have the MSB staff provide a brief introduction of this project at the April 8 MLCC meeting and then having the contractor who will be building the project engage the community in live-planning for these routes perhaps in May.

Community involvement is needed to ascertain the needs of the residents along with our growing business population.  Plan on attending this very important meeting.