South Anchorage council asks state and city for interim school-route safety projects

Fifteen pedestrians were killed on Alaska roads last year, a rate of 5.18 per 100,000 and the highest of the past decade, according to a state health bulletin published in April. The same bulletin counts 92 pedestrian deaths since 2016, the year Anchorage adopted Vision Zero, a policy commitment to eliminate traffic deaths entirely.

One neighborhood is asking for whatever can be done fastest. The Huffman/O'Malley Community Council passed a resolution last month asking the municipality and the state transportation department for "swift action to implement pilot projects increasing pedestrian and cyclist safety" until permanent fixes arrive. It names no projects, locations, funding or deadlines.

What the council described is children walking to school without anywhere to walk. It cited a lack of infrastructure around neighborhood schools, and said the shortage puts the burden on parents and keeps kids from getting anywhere on their own. Bowman Elementary students reach Tanglewood Park by a footpath; the council also backs a Great Land Trust proposal to build a trail connecting to the school. Connecting the Huffman Road sidewalk to Huffman Elementary has been on the council's priority list for years. The Lorraine Street crossing on that state arterial already has a school zone, lowered speeds, flashing lights and a crosswalk.

Moving faster than that runs into two obstacles. State transportation policy allows speed limits to change only after a formal speed study, and the department has said lane reductions would follow analysis of their cumulative effects. And the public is not united. Assembly Member Keith McCormick, telling colleagues last November that "the pedestrian deaths have spiked and increased greatly," described the opposition he had heard to traffic calming and lower limits.

A memorandum before the Assembly on Monday records a different view, attributed to Bike Anchorage: that incremental measures will not resolve the city's road safety problem without broader changes to how streets are designed. The council's resolution does not take that up.