Anchorage Daily News

WASILLA - If you're headed up the Glenn Highway this weekend, you might want to pack a raft -- for your car.

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The Matanuska River is eating its way toward the Glenn Highway.

State Transportation workers stood watch over the Glenn at Mile 63.5 north of Sutton on Wednesday night to make sure the churning river didn't gobble up the road, or any travelers.

But the road was still intact Thursday, said Jack Fullerton, central region maintenance and operations chief for the state Department of Transportation.

Randy Vanderwood, also in the DOT maintenance and operations department, said a work crew would continue to monitor the road, ready to take action if needed.

"We didn't lose any more embankment, but it's very critical right now," Fullerton said.

The Matanuska River veers close to the Glenn Highway just north of Sutton, past Granite Creek. In recent years, the river has veered even closer than it's supposed to as it carved a new channel on the north side of the wide riverbed.

A week ago the bank showed signs of erosion, Vanderwood said. The water was several yards away from the highway then, but the churning water had punched a hole 10 feet wide and 6 feet deep into the bank. At the time, he said, he figured DOT better get a project designed and ask the Legislature for money in January.

A lot can change in a week.

"Once it decided to go, it just went," Vanderwood said.

FAMILIAR COMPLAINT

Ask any resident along that stretch of road about the problem and they will explain how they've been telling anyone who would listen about it for years.

Ed Musial and his wife, Valeria, live less than a mile up the road. They've been trying to get someone to fix the problem since 1986. The Musials used to have a salmon-spawning stream in front of their house, then about 1,000 feet of forested land, and river beyond it. Now Yellow Creek is gone and the river surges across their front yard.

"People (boat) right by here now and wave at us. They come by with kayaks and canoes and rafts," Valeria Musial said, standing on her new riverfront lawn.

Ed Musial said the river's progress -- and the lack of borough or state response to his repeated pleas to fix it -- have him so disgusted he's given up mowing for the year.

From anyone else, that might sound like an excuse for laziness. From Musial, known to some in Sutton as "Mr. Clean" because his yard is always impeccable, refusal to mow is like spray-painting a big anarchy sign on a public building.

Musial has been predicting the road erosion for years. He says the river's new movement is caused by dikes the state installed in 1986. The dikes have nearly all washed away, but not before water built up enough force to crash through them the first year they were installed. Musial says the force forever changed the river pattern.

Paul Janke, a river hydrologist for DOT, said the Matanuska River, a braided glacial stream, is just doing what it does best: being unpredictable.

The Matanuska River has been chewing up its banks for decades. Butte residents in 2004 watched while the river swallowed 10-foot chunks of land in a day.

But the river also changes course swiftly. That's why DOT has held off on fixing the spot where the river veers close to the road, Janke said. If the state poured $500,000 into a solution and the river suddenly changed course, it might be seen as a wasteful.

"We usually want to wait until we can see whether there is a problem," Janke said.

Thursday, it was clear there was a problem, and that the road is in danger of washing out. Fullerton said his crew is working to get temporary permits to lay in giant sacks of sand to halt the erosion for now.

Meanwhile, Janke is designing a permanent fix that will likely involve hauling in giant armor rock -- heavy boulders -- and more rip-rap.

Both Janke and Fullerton say it's too soon to know how much the repairs will cost. Fullerton he hopes work on the permanent fix can begin in 10 days.

Vanderwood said he hopes to have a temporary fix installed by the weekend. Neither expected the work to result in road closures, although temporary lane closures could slow down traffic.

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

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