Anchorage Daily News

WASILLA - In 2008, motorists in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough can expect more traffic signals on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway and new asphalt on the Parks Highway between Wasilla and Big Lake Road, according to highway design chief Judy Dougherty of the state Transportation Department.

But bigger projects, such as improvements to Seward-Meridian Parkway and Trunk Road, must wait until more funding is available, Dougherty said.

"We feel that if all the money was available when we need it, we could have this project advertised (for construction bids) in 2009. But there's no money for construction," she said of the Seward-Meridian Parkway project.

Jeff Ottesen, director of the Transportation Department's program development division, said the state might not see federal construction money for those projects before 2010 or 2011.

Inflation, paired with restrictions on how federal road dollars can be spent, is a growing problem for Alaska, he said.

"We have literally millions of dollars of programs on the shelf right now. We've gone from a program that used to deliver 10-12 projects a year to a program that delivers two or three," Ottesen said.

Money for smaller projects, like installing traffic signals on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, is more readily available.

Dougherty said four signals would be installed next year along that highway, at Wagon, Hyer and Hemmer roads and Equestrian Street. A signal at Parks Highway and Vine Road will also be installed next year, Dougherty said.

Dougherty said her department would take bids in May or June on a project to install four additional traffic signals on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway and two on Knik-Goose Bay Road, at Vine Road and Fairview Loop. The four Palmer-Wasilla Highway signals will go at Begich, Shennum and Golden Hills drives and at Arabian Lane, she said.

The signals, 13 once all are installed, will divide the highway into roughly half-mile pieces. It's a safety measure, Dougherty said.

"It's a continuous stream of cars," she said of the highway. "It's very difficult to get into the traffic stream. This will create gaps."

Meanwhile, Ottesen said inflation has cleared some Valley projects from the state transportation list for now.

Transportation employees will spend about $8 million next year buying private property between the Parks and Palmer-Wasilla highways to widen Seward Meridian Parkway, Dougherty said.

Project planners last year estimated the project, which will one day result in a three-mile, five-lane road from Parks Highway to Seldon Road, would be ready for construction by November 2008. Now the project has been cut into two phases and construction isn't scheduled.

It's a similar situation with Trunk Road. Dougherty said the long-delayed project to rebuild Trunk Road between Parks and Palmer-Wasilla highways is ready for construction. But it lacks the $38 million needed to pay for it, she said.

calculating cost changes

Ottesen said Trunk Road exemplifies the many hard issues facing the Transportation Department. Inflation is just one.

The department recently completed a study of every project completed between 2000 and 2006. Project prices for similar work were almost flat from 2000 to 2004, Ottesen said.

"Since then, it has gone up like a rocket," he said.

The cost of doing earthwork shot up 60 percent, he said. The cost of petroleum-based pavement soared by 85 percent.

Ottesen said obvious things, such as higher fuel prices, higher equipment costs and higher insurance rates, are partially to blame. But he suspected a shrinking pool of contractors and a spike in the number of construction projects available has made construction a bidder's market and led to higher costs.

Construction costs are not likely to decrease, he said. On the other side of the equation, federal transportation funds are expected to decrease as well.

New standards requiring cars average 35 miles per gallon by 2011 and more interest in alternative fuels translate to less federal fuel tax revenue distributed to states for transportation projects, Ottesen said.

"We're going to have to figure out what our future is," he said.

A permanent fund for transportation projects might be part of the future solution. Ottesen said state employees are working on legislation that would create a transportation fund invested and managed much like the state Permanent Fund. He said a percentage of the interest earnings could then be spent for transportation projects.

Ottesen said details about the transportation fund should be available by the end of the year.

Find Daily News reporter Rindi White online at www.adn.com/contact/rwhite or call 352-6709.

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