Flanked by farms and homes on bluffs overlooking Palmer Hay Flats, the 11-mile scenic road is heavily used and falling apart in spots.
The state Department of Transportation plans to spend $22 million to resurface, widen and add shoulders to the road, and iron out some tight corners. The work would likely happen in 2013 or 2014.
Residents, despite recognizing the road is in bad need of repair, this spring asked the state to delay roadwork until it can afford to build a bicycle and pedestrian path at least in the area near Snowshoe Elementary School, a school with 600 students at Mile 8 of the road.
"What we don't want is $22 million spent under the guise of helping this community when in reality it will only make living here more dangerous," Sabrina Shaw said in a March letter to Rep. Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak-Mat-Su, who represents that part of the Valley.
Shaw is a Fairview Loop resident and heads the Fairview Safety Committee. Stoltze secured the original $22 million for road improvements.
Residents this week got their wish. Stoltze, co-chair of the House Finance Committee, added $4.5 million in state general funds to the capital budget for the project, with the additional money designated for a pedestrian path.
If the funding survives Gov. Sean Parnell's veto pen, it could be used to build a 2.4-mile bike path along one side of the road, likely centered at the elementary school, project manager Jim Amundsen said.
Exactly how that money will be spent is in part up to the community. He plans to hold more public meetings about the project in June or July.
"We want to make sure what we deliver with this money is something that the community wants," he said.
BYPASS FEARS
The Mat-Su Borough's Capital Improvement Project list ranked a path along the Fairview Loop as its most needed separated trail. Residents have been asking for a separated pathway for more than 20 years. Their overriding concern is that Fairview Loop is on track to becoming a default Wasilla bypass.
Amundsen said his department is improving the road so it will handle the traffic already using it, not so it will become a bypass.
But some commuters who live on Knik-Goose Bay already use the road to skirt bottlenecked traffic in Wasilla.
Residents believe that number will grow as other road projects in the area are finished.
A City of Wasilla project being planned would ultimately connect Fairview Loop with the Parks Highway near the city sports complex, completing a circuit around Wasilla.
"We can't just pretend it's not (being used that way). We're going to have to consider it. That's all part of the public process," Amundsen said.
A GOOD START
Even students at the elementary school got involved in the lobbying effort. In March second- and third-grade students wrote letters to Stoltze, petitioning him for a bike path.
"A path is a good idea because it is safe so you can't get ran over by a drunk person," wrote one student, who signed her letter "Sincearly, Anna"
The added funding was good news for Snowshoe Elementary Principal Carol Boatman.
"We would love to have (a path along) all of Fairview Loop, but I think this is a great start," Boatman said.
The road is posted at 50 miles per hour. Boatman said because of the danger posed by the nearby busy road, students who walk or bike to school must first have their parents sign special permission slips that review safety measures. Fewer than 10 parents allow their students to walk or bike there, she said.
With a path, Boatman said, she expects to see more students getting morning and afternoon exercise that way, as well as more students using the school playground after school is over.
Find Rindi White online at adn.com/contact/rwhite or call 352-6709.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.