Comments close Friday on Mat-Su plan setting which roads can get federal money

Public comment closes Friday on MatSu 2050, the Mat-Su Valley's first long-range federal transportation plan, which sets which road, path and transit projects can get federal money through 2050.

A project has to be on the list to get federal dollars, and without an adopted plan the region loses access to that money, according to MatSu Valley Planning for Transportation, the agency writing it. Comments can go through MVP's website.

MVP became the Valley's federal transportation planning agency after the 2020 Census counted more than 50,000 people in its core area, covering Palmer, Wasilla, the land between them and parts of Fishhook and Knik-Fairview.

"We sit in traffic where we never used to. We worry about dangerous intersections," Palmer Mayor Jim Cooper, the agency's board chair, wrote in the draft plan's foreword.

The draft counts 4,250 crashes in the area from 2018 to 2022, including 37 fatal crashes and 133 with serious injuries. It projects the Mat-Su Borough's population will reach about 145,700 by 2050, up 56% from 2019.

The biggest near-term state projects are a Parks Highway interchange at the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, at $134.88 million, and rebuilding the Parks Highway from Seward Meridian to Church Road, at $92.16 million.

The proposed Knik-Fairview Expressway appears later, in the 2031 to 2040 band, in two phases totaling about $346 million. State transportation staff told MVP its environmental survey work is paused.

How the near-term list came together drew a fight this summer.

In August, at the Mat-Su Borough's request, MVP's board voted 5-2 to move walking paths at Knik-Goose Bay and Finger Lake elementary schools from the 2027 to 2030 list to the long-term list. In their place came three borough road projects: Carmel Road, Covington Street and Seldon Road.

Borough staff said the Assembly would see $24 million in pathway projects as disproportionate and that more than half the borough's share was going to walking and biking projects, according to the meeting's draft minutes.

Borough Manager Mike Brown acknowledged that large road projects would delay new ones but said that's worth it if they're priorities. He noted that every project Palmer submitted was already on the near-term list.

Cooper and Brian Winnestaffer of Chickaloon Native Village voted no. Winnestaffer worried about locking up money for others for 10 years or more. Cooper said a borough priority isn't necessarily a Palmer or Wasilla priority.

Rod Hanson of the North Lakes Community Council urged the board to stay true to its scoring process, noting the Finger Lake project had scored high.

MVP expects about $6.7 million a year in federal money for projects. Transit is the only category the draft projects to fall short, and it says keeping current service may take new money or service changes.

The board is scheduled to adopt the plan in December.