Anchorage's 2052 transportation plan calls for a Fairview Bypass and more frequent buses

Anchorage's draft long-range transportation plan, which the Assembly begins taking up Nov. 17, calls for a new parkway through Fairview, a rebuilt Muldoon Road and buses that come at least every 30 minutes on every People Mover route.

The draft 2052 Metropolitan Transportation Plan lists 325 recommended street, trail, transit and rail projects for the Anchorage Bowl and Chugiak-Eagle River, and identifies more than $4.3 billion in complete streets, walking and biking, and transit investments through 2052.

Its biggest piece is the Fairview Bypass, which the plan calls its "most consequential regional investment." The parkway would connect Midtown to the Glenn Highway near Airport Heights, moving regional traffic off the Ingra-Gambell couplet that splits Fairview. Through the neighborhood, the plan describes the road running below street level, with new bridges, a park built over it and a bridge just for people walking and biking at Latouche Street.

The plan's traffic modeling shows less driving and delay within the Anchorage Bowl overall. It also shows more traffic on the Glenn Highway through Chugiak and Eagle River, which the plan says may partly reflect the bypass drawing more trips between the Mat-Su and Anchorage.

On transit, the plan would bring every People Mover route to buses at least every 30 minutes and add three new routes, including service linking the airport and the Dimond Transit Center to a new transit hub at Muldoon Road and DeBarr Road. It puts transit investment at about $1.5 billion over the life of the plan.

Other flagship projects include continued safety upgrades along the Seward Highway and rehabilitating the Glenn Highway.

The plan comes from Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions, or AMATS, the area's federal transportation planning group, and it keeps the area eligible for federal highway money, according to the Assembly resolution. AMATS' Policy Committee has the final say. Transportation Planning Manager Aaron Jongenelen told the committee in June that the plan needs to be updated by Dec. 29 to avoid a possible freeze on new federal funding for projects, according to the committee's minutes.

The Assembly is set to introduce a resolution for its recommendations on the plan Nov. 17 and hold a public hearing Dec. 1. Public comment on the draft is open through Dec. 3 on the plan's website.