Community help needed for 4 new road projects

The Matanuska Susitna Borough Public Works Department is co-hosting a public meeting on July 23 to focus on four road projects that will make it easier for residents and visitors to get around the Wasilla area. The MAT-SU Borough and the City of Wasilla need the community’s help with these projects.

Three of the roads will be built as early as 2011: Museum Drive Extension, Machen Road Extension and South Mack Road Extension.

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough received $6 million to design and construct the Parks Highway Connectors project. Early studies solidified extending Machen Road and Museum Drive to serve as frontage roads to the busy and crash-prone Parks Highway between Lucus Road and Big Lake Road. The proposed alignments for these two roads have been selected. Come to the July 23 meeting and help the project team identify the impacts arising from these two projects on surrounding property and business owners, and ways to solve them.

The City of Wasilla is conducting a study to extend South Mack Drive as a major collector road from the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center to Knik-Goose Bay Road. The route for the South Mack Drive Extension has not been selected. The project team will be working with the community to identify potential routes, which may include the existing South Mack Drive, Clapp Road, or another location.

At the meeting, you’ll also find information on the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities’ project to upgrade the Parks Highway from milepost 44 to 52 to a 4-lane divided highway with limited access. The stretch of highway from Lucus Road to the Alaska Railroad Houston crossing has been designated as Traffic Safety Corridor due to the high rate of fatal and severe injury crashes in the area. ADOT&PF is in the environmental assessment phase of this project to make the Parks Highway safer.

Please plan to attend the meeting on these four projects from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., July 23, at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center.

For more information on the Parks Highway Connectors project, contact:

Brad Sworts, Planning Transportation Manager

Matanuska-Susitna Borough

(907) 746-7430

For information on all four projects, contact:

Anne Brooks, P.E., Public Participation Coordinator

Brooks and Associates

Toll-free: 1-866-535-1877

Phone: (907) 272-1877

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Online project information: www.parkshighway44-52.info