Anchorage Assembly to weigh in on draft 2052 transportation plan, with hearing Dec. 1

The Anchorage Assembly will introduce a resolution Tuesday, Nov. 17, that would forward its recommendations on the draft 2052 Metropolitan Transportation Plan, which calls for a Fairview Bypass and more frequent buses, to the region's transportation planners. A public hearing is set for Dec. 1.

Mayor Suzanne LaFrance submitted the resolution, and the administration recommends approval.

The resolution would send whatever recommendations the Assembly adopts, if any, to the AMATS Policy Committee before final action. Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions, known as AMATS, is the federally designated transportation planning body for the Anchorage Bowl, Chugiak and Eagle River.

The Assembly does not approve the plan itself. Under city code, it must review the draft, hold at least one public hearing and adopt any recommendations within 45 days of introduction.

The plan lists road, transit and trail projects expected to begin or be built over at least 20 years. The resolution says the plan is federally required, must be updated every four years and is needed to keep the area eligible for federal Highway Trust Fund dollars.

Public comment on the draft, released Oct. 19, runs through Dec. 3, according to an Assembly memorandum.

The draft is a minor update to the 2050 plan and lists 325 recommended projects.

The costliest project outside the Seward Highway would rebuild 5th and 6th avenues from L Street to Gambell Street at an estimated $314.5 million. The project would remove a lane of traffic, slow speeds and add protected bike lanes. A second segment, from Gambell Street to Airport Heights Drive, carries a $30.5 million estimate. In early August, planning-level estimates put the two segments at $370 million combined. The AMATS Policy Committee later approved the $314.5 million figure, which includes a 20% contingency.

In an October staff memorandum, Senior Planner Rhiannon Brown asked the Technical Advisory Committee to recommend releasing the draft without the Safer Seward Highway projects and the downtown reconstruction. The released draft includes both.

Other projects include Muldoon Road from Tudor Road to the Glenn Highway at $68.3 million and Dimond Boulevard from C Street to Corbin Drive at $34.6 million.

The plan's community impact assessment cites the 2014 East Anchorage District Plan, which says Muldoon Road at DeBarr Road has the most pedestrian and bicyclist crashes with vehicles in the East Anchorage District. The assessment also says the downtown lane reduction would cut capacity for drivers.

The AMATS technical and policy committees are scheduled to give the draft its final review in February 2027.