Anchorage historic panel objects to Seward Highway safety review it says skipped the city

The Anchorage Historic Preservation Commission is objecting to the federal historic review of the Safer Seward Highway project, saying the state let its historic preservation officer sign off without giving the city the same chance to weigh in.

In a May letter, commission chair Connor Scher wrote that Anchorage staff learned only after the fact, alongside the public, that the state officer had concurred last fall with a finding that the project poses no adverse effect to historic sites. Under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, Scher argued, consulting parties like the commission are entitled to the same consultation the state officer got. The commission wants the state to negotiate an agreement laying out how sites would be protected.

The letter flags Beluga Point, which it calls possibly the most significant known archaeological site in Anchorage, along with Potter Marsh, the Iditarod National Historic Trail and historic railroad bridges near Bird Creek that some track realignments would require tearing down. Scher also argued a wider, faster four-lane design cuts against the corridor's scenic-byway status.

The state sees it differently. The project's environmental assessment says historic properties were identified and avoided, and the team maintains it's following Section 106, with consultation ongoing and no significant impacts expected. The department reached a similar no-effect finding on the nearby Windy Corner work in 2015.

Underneath the process fight is a live disagreement Alaska News has covered: whether to make this deadly stretch safer by slowing traffic or by widening the road. The commission's objection lands on the widening side. The state's direct response to the May letter wasn't in the record reviewed for this article.