Airport Way cul-de-sacs go before Fairbanks FAST Planning committee Aug. 6

Cul-de-sacs Along Airport Way Frontage Roads Up for Review

Cul-de-sacs on the frontage roads along Airport Way are on the agenda Thursday, Aug. 6, when the Fairbanks Area Surface Transportation Planning Project Enhancement Committee meets from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The item is listed only as "Airport Way Cul-De-Sacs," and the notice does not spell out its scope. The committee meets at the planning office in the KeyBank Building, 100 Cushman St., Suite 215, in Fairbanks.

The idea has a paper trail. FAST Planning's 2018 Airport Way Functional Features Plan recommends repurposing the southern frontage road between University Avenue and Washington Drive and adding "cul-de-sacs at Kalakaket Street and Bedrock Street." The plan also calls for removing, realigning or building cul-de-sacs on existing frontage roads on both sides of the corridor, and for converting frontage road space to pathways and green infrastructure. Neither the meeting notice nor the agency's public materials say those specific recommendations are what the committee will take up. Airport Way is the corridor serving Fairbanks International Airport and connections toward Fort Wainwright.

A June 17 Policy Board packet said the improvements identified in the 2007 Airport Way Improvements Reconnaissance Study and the 2018 plan had not advanced.

The changes contemplated in the 2018 plan would reach well beyond the planning office. Stakeholder input gathered during that plan informed recommendations to repurpose frontage roads and build cul-de-sacs to improve safety, access and multimodal use. Residents and businesses along the frontage roads would see altered access patterns, possible traffic calming and roadway space converted to pathways and green infrastructure. For drivers who use Airport Way as a main east-west route, the plan documents stress keeping the corridor working while cul-de-sacs and frontage road changes shift turning movements, access points and travel times.

FAST Planning has separately proposed adding an Airport Way Connected Corridor project to its federal funding program. Public comment on that amendment closed July 24. Thursday's committee meeting is hybrid and open to the public.