Alaska DOT programs Fairview Bypass into 2052 plan at $220M

The Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions Technical Advisory Committee reviewed a fiscally constrained project list June 11 that includes four phases of the Fairview Bypass project in the 2052 Metropolitan Transportation Plan with combined costs of $220.5 million. The committee was asked to recommend approval to the Policy Committee. The total includes $19.5 million for environmental analysis, design, and right-of-way acquisition, plus three construction stages.

The programming follows completion of a Planning Environmental Linkages study led by Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities in cooperation with the Municipality of Anchorage and the Federal Highway Administration. The final recommendation is to implement Alternative 5, formerly named Parkway Alternative C, which includes a parkway alignment through public land. The programming places the project on the long-range fiscally constrained list; construction funding and National Environmental Policy Act review remain ahead.

The Fairview community received a Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2023 to fund a Fairview Corridor Plan coordinating with the Seward-Glenn Connection PEL Study. In 2024, the Fairview Community Council adopted a resolution requesting that the study continue close cooperation with the corridor plan team and prioritize reconnection of the neighborhood street grid and local access. Public outreach for the Seward to Glenn Connection PEL Study began in 2023. The study materials are being integrated with AMATS's long-range transportation planning to ensure any selected alternative can be programmed for future funding and implementation. The PEL approach carries decisions, analyses, and public input forward into future NEPA processes for the selected improvements.

Stage 1 construction, budgeted at $60 million, builds a new regional connection along Merrill Field's southeast edge. Stage 2, at $45 million, constructs a grade-separated Glenn Highway interchange. Stage 3, at $96 million, depresses the parkway through Fairview with bridges and a park lid.

DOT&PF shows a projected remaining budget of negative $150 million in the short term under the plan's revenue assumptions.