City plans extension of South Mack Drive by sports center

The project is relatively simple: connect South Mack Drive, the road that now serves the city sports complex, to Knik-Goose Bay Road.

"It's a vital link," said Mat-Su Borough transportation planner Brad Sworts. "Right now the traffic is all being funneled either directly through the heart of Wasilla at the Knik-Goose Bay/Main Street intersection, or they're having to drive up Vine Road."

Traffic at the Wasilla end of Knik-Goose Bay Road becomes nearly bumper-to-bumper during peak travel times. The road is the primary route serving the Knik-Fairview community, for years the Mat-Su Borough's fastest-growing area.

The recent addition of traffic signals at Fairview Loop and Vine Road have helped make the route safer, but Wasilla Public Works Director Archie Giddings said traffic models show adding more connecting roads would be a bigger help.

It's about seven miles between Main Street in Wasilla and Vine Road on the Parks Highway, Giddings said. Normal grid systems incorporate much shorter gaps, such as a mile.

Sworts said the project would create important links with two Mat-Su Borough road projects. The borough secured $6 million from the state to extend Machen Road and Museum Drive, roads that parallel the Parks Highway west of Wasilla. Those roads will become frontage roads along the Parks Highway, serving homes and businesses between Wasilla and Meadow Lakes.

The South Mack Drive Extension project would allow that traffic to move south by extending South Mack Drive past the Menard Sports Center and most likely connect it to South Clapp Street.

The road would cross mostly undeveloped private land and skirt nearby subdivisions, Giddings said. It would also remake the intersection of Fairview Loop and Knik, Giddings said, creating a four-way intersection with Clapp Street.

Fairview currently connects with Knik on a curve. Rerouting the road to a safer, straight section and moving the traffic signal would likely eat up more than a third of the project budget, he said.

The city has $4 million in state grants to work on the project. Giddings said once a route is chosen, engineers will provide more detailed project plans. By the end of this year or early next year, the city might be ready to begin buying right-of-way for the two-lane, 35-mph road and an accompanying bicycle/pedestrian path.

The city plans to seek construction money from the state next year. If city leaders are successful, construction could happen in three to five years, Giddings said.

Most residents who commented at recent city open houses say they're in favor of the project, especially if it means a smoother traffic flow and an easier commute. Some residents, like those who live in Donovan Estates, a large subdivision west of Clapp Street, said they worry about the noise and potential danger of additional traffic zipping by their neighborhood.

Giddings said the Clapp route hasn't officially been selected. It's the top-favored of four routes the city is considering, but residents will have a chance to comment on the project at city and Mat-Su Borough Planning Commission meetings in the next few months.

COMMENT OR LEARN MORE: Wasilla Public Works Director Archie Giddings will present South Mack project plans to the Mat-Su Transportation Advisory Board at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. The board meets in the basement conference room at the Mat-Su Borough building in Palmer. More information about the project is also available online at www.parkshighway44-52.info/southmack. Comments can be submitted there.