Coastal Trail Extension Back in Anchorage's Hands; Focus Shifts to Cost for Completion, Property Concerns

After four inconclusive years of planning and environmental assessment by the state, the controversial extension of the 11-mile downtown Anchorage-Kincaid Park Tony Knowles Coastal Trail -- for another 13 miles to Potter Marsh -- is back in the city's hands, with state Transportation Commissioner Mike Barton explaining that local issues should be solved locally and Mayor-elect Mark Begich, in office next month, happy to take over the project, since ''(w)e can plan it better'' and certainly trim its estimated $37 million cost, but the five-member state-city Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Study (AMATS) downgrading its priority from third to eleventh, to use the scant resources for small neighborhood trails first.

The state-recommended and city-preferred south shoreline extension route is mainly opposed by local residents fearing property, privacy and wildlife loss, but the cost, paid mostly in federal and state money, also fuels concern, reports Anchorage Daily News writer Rosemary Shinohara, quoting the mayor-elect, who acknowledges Governor Frank Murkowski's fiscal worries, saying, ''Today, it's shift the burden as much as they can on the local taxpayers.''

Although a recent poll just released by Friends of the Coastal Trail found almost 60 percent of registered voters in support of the coastal trail extension, the Anchorage Assembly decided against asking the AMATS to review the trail downgrading until it has more cost details, reports the daily's writer Katie Pesznecker, also mentioning testimony by Gun Collector Association representative Don Rogers, who noted the trail's proximity to Rabbit Creek Rifle Range and added, ''We're afraid eventually, someday, somebody will decide gunfire is evil and try to get the rifle range closed.''