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

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities programmed four phases of the Fairview Bypass into the 2052 Metropolitan Transportation Plan at a combined cost of $220.5 million. The Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions Technical Advisory Committee reviewed the fiscally constrained project list June 11 and was asked to recommend approval to the Policy Committee.

The programming follows completion of a Planning Environmental Linkages study led by DOT&PF 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.

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. Environmental analysis, design, and right-of-way acquisition are budgeted at $19.5 million.

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

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.