OPINION: Ballot Measure 9 will provide better roads and parking for Chugach State Park

In 2023, Anchorage citizens voted with a large majority to create the Chugach State Park Access Service Area, or CASA. Prior to the CASA, there had been no financing mechanism to sustain or improve the primary access roads leading into Chugach State Park, or provide additional parking to existing or newly completed trails. Most roads going to the Park are old roads, built before the trailheads were established, and were never intended for large volumes of traffic. They also lie outside the formal Anchorage Road and Drainage Service Area.

The independent road service areas on the Hillside work well for de-centralized management of snow removal and light summer maintenance, but were never meant to fund and manage Park access, especially when most of the traffic on these neighborhood roads is actually Park traffic, and originates outside these service areas. Many of the roads leading to the Park are in poor condition and often have limited (or no) legal parking.

This election, voters will have their first chance to use a CASA bond to improve access to the Park. This is Ballot Measure 9 (BM9). BM9 would authorize $4 million for upgrades and parking on Canyon Road, the road that leads to the trailheads on the south side of Flattop (“Sunny Side”), Rabbit Lake, and the popular Peak 2 and 3 ski runs.

If you have ever been to this area, you know the road is in terrible shape: exposed boulders in the road bed, cracks, holes, creeks running down and across it, and there is barely any safe or legal parking. There is no room to park off the road, which is narrow to begin with, so the road itself becomes the parking lot, creating a one-lane road that is often challenging to navigate in any vehicle. It also creates a safety issue, as hikers are walking up and down this one-lane road while cars are driving and parking. Large emergency vehicles are unable to safely navigate the road in these conditions.

This is a relatively small “pilot project” to test CASA. If successful, it could lead to similar improvements to other roads that go to the Park, as well as parking and trail enhancements in other parts of the City. This could include Upper DeArmoun Road, the Bear Valley corridor that leads to the McHugh Peak trailhead, and additional parking on Basher Road (Stuckagain Heights).

The CASA service area is the Anchorage Bowl. Voters outside the Anchorage Bowl, such as in Eagle River, Chugiak, Girdwood, and Indian, will vote, but do not pay, if it passes. For voters in the Anchorage Bowl, bond counsel has determined that the $4 million would cost 95 cents a year per $100,000 in assessed value. So, on a $400,000 house, the cost would be about the same as one day of parking at the trailhead.

On the business side of things, Chugach State Park is a very popular park with very few access points. It receives 1.5 million visitations annually, more than Denali National Park. And the visitation rate is growing quickly. Usage has increased 50% in just the past 5 years.

Outdoor recreation and tourism is one of the few growing parts of our local economy, and provides more reasons for visitors to spend time and money in our city, expanding spending that creates and maintains jobs and provides income to Anchorage residents.

Creating safer roads and adequate parking for the number of visitors to our beloved Chugach State Park can only help attract new residents, encourage existing residents to stay, and improve the economy of the city.

BM9 has been endorsed by park and trail organizations, hiking, skiing, and biking groups, businesses, and many road service areas. Please vote yes and support your park.

Joe Connolly is the chairman of the Glen Alps Road Service Area Board of Supervisors in Anchorage.

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