Anchorage Daily News

A contractor hired to sweep state-maintained streets and sidewalks in the Anchorage area got off to a slow start, but made the July 22 deadline under a scaled-back contract, state officials said last week.

That doesn't mean everything's been swept of sand and grit, though.

Still to be done: Northern Lights Boulevard, Benson Boulevard, Boniface Parkway and parts of the Old Seward Highway, as well as sections of some other roads not in the original contract, said Jack Fullerton, the Department of Transportation's chief of maintenance and operations for the central region.

The original contractor, SmithSon's Enterprises Inc., had done only one-sixth of the work by late June, so agreed to hand over part of the job to a second contractor.

That contractor, A & G Enterprises Ltd., was given until Aug. 15, and that could be extended because of the recent rain, which turns the sand into a slurry too messy to vacuum up, said Tom Grman, DOT superintendent for the Anchorage district.

Cyclists and pedestrians, legislators and creek advocates, all have been raising concerns this summer about dirty roads and sidewalks.

"Forever we were seeing this stuff on the road that they weren't cleaning. So it had been going on for a long time in my mind, that they weren't up to snuff," said cyclist Deni Callahan, who broke her hip in May after a bad tumble on a sidewalk along Boniface Parkway.

Callahan, 55 and a nurse, had been riding her Cannondale cross bike a lot this spring to train for the Fireweed endurance race. On May 17, she was biking over to visit a sick friend.

On the sidewalk, she noticed the deep sand, told herself to be careful, and in that instant, fell. Hard. She underwent surgery that night to repair her broken hip, spent five days in the hospital, and missed two months of work.

"It's just pathetic that they can't get them cleaned. In the summer, this is such a biking town. When you can't even go down the sidewalk without having to fall ... it's just tragic," Callahan said.

The state puts down sand in the winter to improve traction, then must clear it off about 600 lane miles of road, plus sidewalks, in the spring and summer.

SmithSon's ultimately swept about 370 lane miles and did some other work, such as cleaning up spilled topsoil, to earn about $131,000 this summer, Grman said.

A & G took on 168 miles, of which about one-fourth still needed cleaning as of Wednesday, he said.

Some roads in the original contract, like part of Minnesota Drive, couldn't be swept because of construction. But other areas, like a stretch of O'Malley Road not originally included, are being added, Grman said.

SmithSon's rate is just under $350 per lane mile, while A & G is doing the work for $748 a lane mile. The difference in rates means the money will run out before all the roads are swept, Fullerton said.

"There will ultimately be some routes, probably not main ones ... that will not be completed because of that," Fullerton said.

The state just doesn't budget enough money to get all the roads swept quickly enough, he said.

"I've requested additional money for this for years now," Fullerton said.

Next year the state may start with more than one contractor, Fullerton said. It's also looking into requiring benchmarks along the way, as well as a performance bond. But those extra measures also add to the cost, he said.

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

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