Anchorage Daily News
(Published: June 13, 2003)
AMATS, the road and trail decision makers for Anchorage, voted Thursday to downgrade the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail extension from No. 3 on the trails work list to No. 11.
Mayor George Wuerch, who says neighborhood trails should be built first, raised the issue.
The trail extension would run 13 miles from Kincaid Park to Potter Marsh. It would be paid for mostly with federal dollars.
The AMATS committee, which includes Wuerch, two Anchorage Assembly members and two state officials, sets priorities for spending federal highway money in Anchorage.
The decision Thursday makes a statement of committee members' values but won't necessarily be final. The Anchorage Assembly has yet to weigh in; it will consider the trail priorities June 24, Assembly chairman Dick Traini said.
AMATS plans to meet again two days after that so that it can review the list based on Assembly recommendations. And even after that, the committee can change the rankings anytime it chooses.
Transportation money is allocated based on the AMATS ranking.
All four AMATS members present Thursday, including Traini, supported the move. Assemblyman Doug Van Etten, who opposed a similar move earlier this year, was unable to attend Thursday's meeting.
While Traini and Wuerch say other Anchorage trails should be built before the Coastal Trail extension, AMATS member Tom Chapple of the state Department of Environmental Conservation said he supported a lower ranking because the project's cost is undetermined.
The cost estimated in a draft environmental impact statement for the trail extension is $37 million. But incoming Mayor Mark Begich and other supporters of a coastal route say they'll work to reduce the costs and say it can be reduced by millions of dollars.
The state, which produced the draft environmental statement, this week handed responsibility for the project back to the city. The next step would be to evaluate comments on the report and revise it as necessary into a final statement.
Daily News reporter Rosemary Shinohara can be reached at rshinohara@adn.com or 257-4340.
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