Borough: Evergreen renovation on chopping block

The City and Borough of Wrangell is asking its citizens for help in lobbying Governor Sean Parnell’s office to help get a public works project in downtown back on track.

A proposed renovation of Evergreen Road beginning at the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry terminal, and extending north and then east from the city center, has been a priority item on the Alaska Statewide Transportation Improvement Program since 2008 – holding down the top spot on that list since 2010.

Last week it was stricken from that list.

According to Borough manager Tim Rooney, the Alaska State Department of Transportation informed the city on Wednesday, Dec. 12 that the project was no longer being considered for funding due to an effort by the state to reduce spending.

“Evergreen became part of the STIP discussion in 2009 and appeared on the 2010-2013 STIP list shortly thereafter and has remained on the STIP list ever since,” Rooney wrote in letter to Gov. Parnell, which was signed this week by the mayor and members of the Borough Assembly. “This year, a total of $475,000 was allocated to the project for project design and surveying. This was to be followed by $300,000 next year for design and right-of-way acquisition, followed by $5,200,000 for construction the following year. The scope of this project and its inclusion on the STIP list was reaffirmed and approved as recently as August 12, 2012 by the State of Alaska. Now, exactly four months to the day it was approved by the State of Alaska for the above scheduled funding, we were notified that it has been proposed to no longer receive any funding.”

Rooney added that, in discussions with staff from ADOT, he was informed as to the reasons behind the dropping of the project by transportation planner Marie Heidemann and others at the state government level.

“In addition to Ms. Heidemann, staff also visited with Mr. Al Clough, Southeast Regional Director and Mr. Jeffrey Ottesen, Division Director, both also with the Department of Transportation,” Rooney stated. “Through those discussions, it became clear that the Evergreen Road Improvements and Pedestrian Access Project was one of numerous projects in several communities where funding was cut due to the interpretation of the new transportation bill, MAP-21. Specifically, Mr. Ottesen was very helpful in explaining that there simply was no scoring matrix for the removal of the Evergreen Road Improvements and Pedestrian Access Project, but rather an effort to ‘spread the pain of the cuts statewide’ and that as a result of the MAP-21 transportation bill, ‘there was approximately $100 million less dollars’ to go around.”

In an email from Heidemann, she stated that the changes were meant to “adjust to typical end-of-fiscal-year changes that occurred in 2012 as some projects were advanced, and others delayed by normal project activities,” and also to, “adjust to new funding levels by category contained in the new transportation bill, MAP-21, that requires more NHS and safety project work and less community and secondary highway projects per year.”

One of the concerns Rooney said the State is stating as part of the reasoning behind the increased “safety project” improvements are the level of fatalities on stretches of road singled out in the STIP funding – while adding that improvements to Evergreen Road would protect against exactly what the state is citing is needed.

“Certainly Evergreen Road is never going to experience the vehicular traffic that roads in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau receive,” he wrote. “However, we believe Evergreen Road does present numerous safety concerns – both of a pedestrian and vehicle nature. In fact, one of our own Borough Assembly members was involved in a dump truck rollover accident on the very stretch of road this project was to improve. While Wrangell has been fortunate that Evergreen Road has not experienced the fatalities that it takes to score highly enough on the safety matrix – most likely due to the lower vehicle counts and speed of travel, we are hopeful that it will not take a fatality along this roadway for it to achieve the needed score as rest assured, it is indeed a dangerous situation.”

The Assembly member Rooney is referring to is David Jack, who when contacted, said he was indeed involved in a near rollover accident with his father on Evergreen Road in 1961. Though it was a long time ago, Jack said he remembered it vividly and added that not much has changed since that time.

“The road was in bad shape back then and it hasn’t really gotten any better,” Jack said.

With the State of Alaska rock quarry adjacent to the airport being identified as a source of rock for both City and State road and construction projects, Rooney added that the increase in heavy truck traffic, including full dump trucks driving over the road, has resulted in an acceleration of the deterioration of the road surface since the trucks often use it as the primary access to the project worksites.

The Assembly is asking the governor to allow the design process on the renovation project to be completed in advance of consideration of funding coming forward at a future date.

“We would request that the design be completed so the project is ready to commence should additional funds be acquired by the State,” the letter states. “Additionally, the Borough Assembly of the City and Borough of Wrangell requests the Department of Transportation reconsideration of the Evergreen Road Improvements and Pedestrian Access Project as a project to be included for funding in the 2012-2015 STIP. The City and Borough of Wrangell would also welcome discussions with the Department of Transportation to determine if the project could be scaled back to reduce costs and improve safety.”

Rooney further elaborated that if Gov. Parnell does not consider that request as an option, or if funding is not received through that method, the Assembly would request that the state allocate funding for the project to continue as was originally scheduled for the next two years.

“You have been to Wrangell recently and have seen the positive direction this community is moving,” Rooney concluded. “Please continue that movement by seeing to it that this project is funded and not delayed.”

To that end, the city is providing form letters for citizens to sign that will be transmitted to the governor’s office in hopes of drumming up support for the continued funding of the redevelopment. Those letters will be available at City Hall, Wrangell Cooperative Association, Irene Ingle Public Library, Wrangell Chamber of Commerce and the Harbormaster’s office beginning today. The deadline for submitting letters of support is Jan. 7.

Approximately 10 percent of the population of Wrangell have direct frontage or street access to the area planned for reconstruction and it is also the primary driving route from downtown to the airport. Pedestrian traffic also sees a substantial spike on that route in the summertime due to the popularity of Petroglyph Beach.