Anchorage Daily News

WASILLA -- Employees at Anchorage and Mat-Su engineering firms banded together late last month to promote $49 million in proposed road construction in the Valley.

Their employers are likely to bid on the projects if Mat-Su voters on Tuesday approve bonds that would help fund the work. But group treasurer LaQuita Chmielowski, an engineer with Dowl Engineers, said the engineers who joined the Road Bonds Yes! group want to address a problem they see every day.

"Several who were involved actually live in the Valley, myself included. We've seen the traffic problems over the years and are interested in seeing them (solved)," she said.

Road Bonds Yes! mailed out fliers last week touting the Matanuska-Susitna Borough ballot Proposition 2, a plan to pay for eight Valley road and trail projects.

State law prevents municipalities from doing more than providing neutral facts about election issues. Frequently groups with an interest in the outcome form groups to help spread word about the projects.

The road bond package would cost Valley taxpayers $15 million, or about $15.89 for each $100,000 of borough-assessed property value over 20 years. If the bond passes, the borough will seek the remaining $34 million needed for the roads from the state. None of the eight projects will move forward without this 70 percent state match, according to the ballot language.

Three of the four Road Bonds Yes! campaign members listed on the group's Alaska Public Offices Commission Web site are Dowl employees, and contact numbers and e-mail addresses are to Dowl offices. A fourth campaign volunteer on the APOC registration form, Tom Sands, works for another major Alaska engineering firm, Lounsbury & Associates.

Dowl is one of the top civil engineering firms in the state. According to state Department of Transportation chief contracts officer Mark O'Brien, Dowl ranked fif th of the top 25 contractors the department worked with in fiscal year 2007, the most recent compilation DOT has on file. In that year, Dowl did $4 million in contracting work for the state.

Dowl and Lounsbury are just two of seven who contributed to the Road Bonds group.

The campaign's latest spending report, which on Friday was not yet audited by the Public Offices Commission, lists $4,500 in contributions. Dowl and Hattenburg Dilley & Linnell, both engineering firms that have offices in Palmer, contributed $1,000 each. Lounsbury contributed $750 and Alaska Rim Engineering, Land Design North and Trawver Land Services each gave $500. Anchorage engineering, planning and communications firm Brooks & Associates chipped in $250.

Chmielowski likened the Road Bonds Yes! campaign to a similar group in Anchorage organized by employees from engineering firm Tryck Nyman Hayes Inc., now URS. That group, Anchorage Tomorrow, successfully advocated in 2007 for road and building projects on the Anchorage Municipal ballot.

Find Rindi White online at adn.com/contact/rwhite or call her in Wasilla at 907-352-6709.

What the bonds will pay for in the Valley

$49 million in Mat-Su road projects on Tuesday's ballot

• $9 MILLION -- 2.6-mile Seldon Road upgrade, Schrock Road to Wards Road; borough share is $2.7 million.

• $6 MILLION -- 1.6-mile Seldon Road extension, Church Road to Beverly Lake Road; borough share is $1.8 million.

• $8 MILLION -- 0.8-mile Seward Meridian Parkway extension connects to Fairview Loop; borough share is $2.4 million.

• $7 MILLION -- 3.5-mile Vine Road upgrade; borough share is $2.1 million.

• $5 MILLION -- 0.3-mile Hermon Road extension, new road connects Parks and Palmer Wasilla highways; borough share is $1.5 million.

• $4 MILLION -- 0.4-mile Dogwood extension, behind Carrs store in Palmer, borough share is $1.2 million.

• $2 MILLION -- 0.7-mile Jenson-Soapstone Road connection, linking Palmer Fishhook to Glenn Highway; borough share is $600,000.

• $8 MILLION -- Non-motorized pathways; borough share is $2.4 million.

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