Anchorage Daily News

WASILLA -- Excavators are scooping a new path through farmland and forest along Trunk Road, a daily sign the long-awaited project is finally under way.

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But aside from occasional stops for equipment crossing the road, drivers won't have to worry about delays from the project this year, said project engineer John Waisanen, with the state Department of Transportation.

Next year will be a different story as actual paving begins, he said.

The $22.9 million project to rebuild Trunk Road, planned by state transportation officials for more than 30 years, is estimated to be complete by June 2011. It's 3.5 miles long and will transform one of the most heavily traveled roads in the Valley.

"I'm actually looking forward to the change, for safety," said Karen Harris, owner of Alaska Garden Gate Bed and Breakfast.

Harris said traffic has increased along the road in the six years she has lived there. She fears for the safety of her guests, who are usually driving slowly -- sometimes in motor homes -- on the hilly road as they search for her turn-off.

The problem, in transportation terms, is geometrics. That means the road is windy and hilly, reflective of the glacially influenced land it was built on. It's hard to see far ahead.

An environmental assessment completed in 2002 says 45 miles per hour is too fast for most of the road's 41 curves. Yet the road handles more than 5,600 people each day, many of them commuters headed to or from Anchorage, according to 2008 traffic data from the state.

The road also lacks shoulders for bicyclists or pedestrians -- although many runners and bicyclists still take on the hilly challenge. Longtime Trunk Road resident Rep. Carl Gatto, who represents Mat-Su in the state legislature, logged many miles on the road as a runner and has championed project funding in the legislature.

The fix is dramatic. Not only will the road be straight, the new highway will be four lanes, divided, with limited exits and entrances and a paved path running beside it. The new road is on such a different path that the old road will be abandoned, serving as a local access road.

The switch means some subdivisions are now next to a 55-mile-per-hour highway while a few businesses are tucked away from the traffic. Harris said her business is nearer to the new road -- she sold about 2 acres of her 10-acre parcel to the state for the project.

A road crew cleared the land and felled the trees recently, she said. She's lost some seclusion, but now has incredible views that stretch from the Talkeetna Mountains to Cook Inlet.

"The view is beyond breathtaking," she said.

Waisanen said Scarsella Brothers Inc., the contractor working on the project, has been offering free firewood and will likely continue this month. Dirt work is expected to continue through October.

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

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