AMATS Policy Committee to vote on releasing Anchorage road funding changes for comment

The Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions Policy Committee will vote Thursday, Nov. 19, on releasing changes to Anchorage's 2027-2030 road and transit funding program for a 45-day public comment period. The package would add about $34 million to pavement and bridge work. It would also more than quadruple funding for lane changes on Ingra and Gambell streets.

The Technical Advisory Committee recommended the release Nov. 5 with three edits, according to a memo from AMATS Executive Director Aaron Jongenelen. Two edits shift money from the Motorized Pavement Replacement Program: $250,000 for the Downtown Transit Center and $300,000 for design on the returning Campbell Tract Facility Alignment project. Some advisory committee members raised concerns about the Campbell Tract parking lot design and its effect on trail users. The third edit moves a long-range plan title change to December.

The pavement and bridge preservation program's four-year funding would rise from $105.9 million to nearly $140 million. Its overall cost would grow from $210.161 million to $296.973 million. The program covers the Seward Highway from Tudor Road to 20th Avenue, Tudor Road, Northern Lights Boulevard, Dowling Road and Fifth and Sixth avenues, among other routes. A new drainage program, funded at $6 million a year for $24 million total, would join it.

Rabbit Creek Road and Potter Drive rehabilitations would move from the illustrative list into the funded program, with $6 million and $13.3 million budgeted for 2027-30. Rabbit Creek also has $28 million set aside for construction beyond 2030. L/I Street Rehabilitation's 2027-30 funding would rise from $5 million to $25 million. The Old Seward Highway Spur pavement project's funding would rise from $7.5 million to $15.3 million. The Campbell Creek Trail crossing at Lake Otis Parkway would drop from $7.266 million to $2.9 million, reflecting a reduced scope. Winter Greenbelt trail-maintenance equipment would move to the illustrative list because its listed funding comes from a federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant for which it is not eligible, the memo says.

Ingra/Gambell funding would rise from $3.3 million to $14.35 million in 2027. The project would be renamed from a road diet to couplet lane reconfigurations. An earlier project list described three one-way lanes between Fireweed Lane and Fourth Avenue with a 30 mph posted limit.

The Downtown Transit Center would return with $2.25 million in 2027, at the request of the municipality's Public Transportation Department.

Staff did not recommend the state transportation department's request for $10 million more for 68th Avenue drainage near the Campbell Tract Facility. Staff said other projects are already delayed by limited funding, and AMATS has provided a little over $7 million for that drainage work. Staff held East Fourth Avenue signal project requests until a second amendment. Rep. Zack Fields asked for fewer lanes, bike lanes and striped crosswalks. The project manager replied that lane widths are already being reduced, that lane reductions fall outside the project's scope and that bike lanes are not included. The 3rd Ave Radicals group asked for two-way traffic on East Fourth Avenue from A Street to Ingra Street.

The amendment document puts the program's grand total cost and revenue at $1,116,105,096.

The committee meets at 1 pm Thursday. Public speakers will get three minutes each to comment on the proposed changes before the vote.