Anchorage Moves to Fix One of Its Most Dangerous Streets

Anchorage is about to start fixing one of its most dangerous streets. If the Assembly signs off Tuesday, engineers will begin redesigning a 1.5-mile stretch of Bragaw Street, between Northern Lights Boulevard and the Glenn Highway — the first move in a six-year safety overhaul.

The problem is easy to picture if you've driven it: no bike lanes, sidewalks that drift in and out of being separated from traffic, and barely anywhere to push the snow in winter. And it's not a quiet road — it runs past two schools, a fire station, homes, and a transit route. A city safety study flagged Bragaw as its top-priority corridor in that tier, part of a broader finding that side-impact crashes at intersections cause more than 40 percent of Anchorage's deadly or serious wrecks.

The money is mostly federal: a $25 million Safe Streets for All grant covering 80 percent of the cost, with the city chipping in its share plus extra for storm-drain work the grant won't pay for. The engineering contract goes to HDL Engineering Consultants, chosen over two other firms.

Beyond repaving and bike lanes, the work includes two experiments worth watching citywide: giving pedestrians a few seconds' head start at crosswalks before cars get the green, and a study to guide how Anchorage sets speed limits. Design starts right away; construction will roll out in phases as funding comes through.