By GORDON KEITH
Published: January 6, 2006
The newly approved Long Range Transportation Plan for the Municipality of Anchorage enjoys broad public support. It is a product of years of hard work, and it reflects the needs and wishes of the diverse interests of the city and its people.
The Daily News has published editorials and news stories that focus squarely on a few projects not featured in the final plan -- primarily the Lake Otis and Tudor intersection improvements and the Coastal Trail extension -- while ignoring public consensus on the overwhelming majority of its recommendations.
The Lake Otis and Tudor intersection is in the plan but is scheduled for construction after alternative detour routes are made available and the real needs for intersection improvements can be better defined. This decision is based not on partisan politics, as billed, but on the sound judgment of the municipal Assembly and the AMATS Policy Committee heeding the advice of professional engineers and planners. And the deletion of an expensive and controversial recreational path from the plan is a clear statement as to the proper priorities of essential improvements over nonessential improvements when competing for limited public funds.
Still, the total value of the rescheduled or deleted projects is less than 1 percent of the entire plan. Clearly, we must agree on much more than we disagree.
The truth is that the vast majority of the recommended program, including its centerpiece -- the "Highway to Highway" connection of the Glenn and Seward highways -- has broad community support. This bold and innovative project is the single most costly, and beneficial, project contained in the plan. While it had the potential to divide a neighborhood and significantly affect the community, the project stands as the best example of the communitywide consensus this planning process created. The first part of this multiphased project is the Bragaw-Glenn Highway Interchange, which was included in Gov. Frank Murkowski's transportation initiative and is now in preliminary design.
No one side of the debate got all of what it sought in the long-range plan. This is a common, if not expected, outcome of any public process. What we all have agreed on is that Anchorage has a serious traffic congestion problem, due in large part to the fact that certain important connections in the grid remain to be built. The long-range plan represents a bread-and-butter plan to tackle this problem. The plan has broad support because it provides much-needed connectivity for Anchorage. It will also enhance public transit to double its ridership and will provide many local trail connections.
Until the projects are funded and built, the goals of the plan will merely be words on paper. We cannot let this plan sit on a shelf and collect dust like so many others. It is now time for us to recognize our common ground and to work together to build the future transportation system envisioned through the long-range plan. Implementing it will require the strong commitment of the community, the Legislature, and state and federal agencies to fund, permit, and build the recommended projects.
The long-range plan is, by its very nature, a dynamic and living document that requires continued updating based on changing conditions and needs. I want to thank everyone who participated in the long-range plan and encourage the continued support and involvement of the community as we move forward to implement our common goals.
Gordon Keith is Central Region Director of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities and is his department's representative on the policy committee of Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions