Crews are wrapping up a face-lift for Anchorage's Lanie Fleischer Chester Creek Trail, and city parks officials want people to steer clear of closed-off areas until the construction is complete.
On Thursday, the trail was closed between the Arctic Boulevard tunnel east to the Seward Highway tunnel as construction teams placed hot asphalt. In the next few weeks, crews will be working on the shoulders and landscaping portions of the trail before winter hits, according to Maeve Nevins, senior park planner for the city and the project manager.
Nevins said in an interview that until now, the parks department had not been aggressively enforcing summer trail closures. That will no longer be the case, Nevins said.
"Because there's so many crews all over the trail, it's arguably the worst time to be out there," Nevins said.
In a project update sent out Wednesday, Nevins said trail users were "strongly urged" to stay off the closed-off sections of trail until the work is done. The city's contractor has an Oct. 16 deadline for finishing the project, Nevins said.
Amid strong concerns about safety, Nevins said the contractors may start calling police to report trespassing. She said a bicyclist hit a contractor while riding on a closed section of the trail earlier this summer.
"Before, you might see the contractor and they might wave and be friendly," Nevins said. "Now we're battening down the hatches until we're done."
The trail construction, part of a multiyear improvement project for the Chester Creek, Campbell Creek and Tony Knowles Coastal trails, has been a headache for Anchorage residents who use it regularly for commuting or recreation. Nevins said the $3.2 million project, paid through bonds, is costing less than budgeted. She said leftover money will be distributed to future Campbell Creek trail upgrades.
Meanwhile, with the end in sight, the Anchorage Parks Foundation is organizing a "celebratory parade" for the reopened trail at 6 p.m. on Oct. 29, Nevins said.
Nevins said the parade will be culminate in a grand opening for a new bridge at the north end of Westchester Lagoon. The bridge collapsed last summer and is being replaced.