Anchorage Daily News

Dirty roads, sidewalks and bike paths in Anchorage are stirring up the ire of walkers, joggers and cyclists. And the state -- responsible for upkeep on its roads within the city -- acknowledges post-winter street sweeping is going far too slowly this year.

The street cleaning contractor, in her first year on what's admittedly a big job, is trying to speed up the work by adding equipment and staff, according to officials with the state Department of Transportation. The DOT also brought in a second contractor for a portion of the work, officials said Friday.

"We're definitely getting more complaints this year because we're so far behind," said Tom Grman, DOT superintendent for the Anchorage district.

Of nearly 600 lane miles in the street sweeping contract for Anchorage and Eagle River, just one-sixth had been cleared as of last week, according to the DOT. Most of the complaints are about the sidewalks and bike paths, which are required to be done with roads listed in the contract.

Kimberly Crisafulli-Smith, co-owner of SmithSon's Enterprises Inc., which has the street sweeping contract, said volcanic ash from Mount Redoubt complicated the job.

"It's like concrete in the sweeper," she said. "It just clogs it up and you are constantly working with it."

Also, she said, sidewalks proved to be more challenging to clean than anticipated because of layers of dirt and grass that she thinks had built up over the years.

The company started its work two months ago and is supposed to finish in less than a month, by July 22, under its contract with the state, said DOT spokesman Rick Feller. Its current pace would give it little chance at that deadline.

The city cleans its own streets and had them all done once by May 29, said Heather Handyside, deputy city manager. City crews are now on a second round. Busier roads, like Spenard, are swept every two weeks, she said.

The city used to clean the state roads in Anchorage, but a city audit found the state paid far less than the cost, calculated at more than $1,800 a lane mile.

Rosemary Austin, author of "Mountain Bike Anchorage," commutes on a road bike from East Anchorage to her sales job at Paramount Cycles off Huffman Road. She said a number of state-owned roads are dangerous with dirt, gravel and glass. She often rides along the new Elmore Road, which has bike lanes, but the DOT told her it's not even on the list to clean.

"I don't want to get flat tires and I don't want to wash out in sand and gravel," Austin said.

Ann Reed, a cyclist who is eight months pregnant, took a spill Monday on a gravelly section of sidewalk on DeBarr Road at Pine Street. She was pulling a Chariot bike trailer with her toddler aboard.

She saw the gravel and slowed down, but it was so deep "there was no way I was not going to wipe out," she wrote in an e-mail. She broke her fall with her hand and was scraped up a bit but not really hurt, she said in an interview. The Chariot stayed upright and she thinks the baby she's expecting is fine.

"I just think the deadline was incredibly late," Reed said. "Three months after breakup is a long time."

While the state contractor gets paid after sections are complete, there's no requirement to finish a certain amount by a certain date just to have it all done by the July 22 deadline.

"No benchmarks! Who negotiated that?" exclaimed Curt Harris, a retired state trooper and avid bike rider, who has been complaining to state legislators for weeks about the gravelly roads and bike paths.

A group of legislators invited the media Friday to watch them clean the sidewalk along Benson Boulevard. Clouds of dust rose as legislators, aides and Anchorage residents shoveled and swept a short stretch.

"They kept saying they're going to get this done, they're going to get this done. It's almost the end of June and they're not getting it done," said state Rep. Mike Doogan, D-Anchorage. "There's just no excuse for this."

Harris cycled there on his blue, fat-tired bike but said it's not just a problem for cyclists. Moms pushing strollers, joggers, walkers -- anyone on the trails could trip up on paths littered with gravel and broken glass, he said.

Technically, it's sand, not gravel, on the state roads, officials said.

Every winter, the state dumps sand on its roads to improve traction for motorists and some of it is shoved by snowplows onto bike paths and sidewalks. Every spring, someone must clean off the roads and paved pathways to avoid air and water quality problems.

"Any rain washes all that down into the creeks and makes them more turbid. The turbidity is really, really detrimental, particularly to the juvenile salmon," said Cherie Northon, environmental education director for the Anchorage Waterways Council.

Still, the sand in the streets hasn't created unhealthy air, and likely won't unless wind whips it up. So far in June, Anchorage's air quality has been "good," though earlier in the spring, there were days of moderate air quality, which is typical, said Matthew Stichick, a city environmental engineer.

The state does its own snow plowing but years ago began contracting out for street sweeping because it wasn't cost effective to have such specialized equipment for such a short season, said Jack Fullerton, DOT chief of maintenance and operations.

SmithSon's Enterprises does snow plowing, parking lot clearing and landscaping but never had held the street cleaning contract before.

Its bid to do the state work was about $225,000 -- less than half of any other bidder. The prior contractor protested. The state checked to make sure SmithSon's had enough equipment, and it did, including seven street sweepers, Grman said. Now the company's adding three more sweepers and a water truck so she can run two crews, Crisafulli-Smith said.

SmithSon's is doing the work for just less than $350 per lane mile, its bid price. The prior contractor, A & G Enterprises Ltd., which was brought in recently to help, will work in South Anchorage for $748 a lane mile.

The state is rethinking how it will do street cleaning next year but plans to stick with private operators, Fullerton said. Maybe more than one contractor from the start. Maybe benchmarks along the way.

Meanwhile, eight tractors acquired by the state this winter through funding pushed by Doogan to plow sidewalks in Anchorage are sitting idle, even though they also have brooms for sweeping. The crews who do the winter clearing are seasonal and aren't paid for the summer, DOT officials said.

Find Lisa Demer online at adn.com/contact/ldemer or call 257-4390.