Spenard Road is one of the oldest roads in Anchorage. Its curving shape reflects its history as a trail from what is now downtown to the airport. Spenard Road is now a busy, business-lined urban minor arterial street. In the past two decades, it has consistently had a high rate of vehicle and vehicle/pedestrian/bike crashes. In 2000, an Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF) Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) project was initiated to reduce that rate. The HSIP is a funding program that identifies areas in the community with the highest crash rates. The funding is allocated only to those roadway projects where corrective measures will significantly reduce crash rates and crash severity, while maintaining current and future traffic flow. A study was conducted, but further work was not funded. The study concluded that a reduction from 4 lanes to 3 lanes with intersection improvements would be the best solution for improving safety while maintaining current and predicted future traffic flow.
In 2005 ADOT&PF transferred the project to the MOA. The MOA Project Management and Engineering Department designated the project as a high priority. The project corridor length was increased from the earlier HSIP. The MOA additionally charged the project with improving congestion and safety at the intersection of Spenard and Minnesota Drive and added the section of Spenard Road from Fireweed Lane to Chester Creek at the Minnesota on-ramp. For further information on this project phase, visit the project web site here.
The current project takes the research, planning, and public involvement from the earlier project phases and applies them to the development of a final design followed by construction of the northernmost section of Spenard Road.
The following decisions, made in earlier phases will be carried into the design of this project:
- Convert 4 lanes to 3 lanes between Northern Lights Boulevard and Hillcrest Drive.
- Accommodate pedestrians and bicycles within available right-of-way.
- Develop 8-foot-wide pedestrian facilities on both sides of the road.
- Use ‘hard’ landscaping instead of plantings to reduce maintenance costs. (Note: Selection of landscaping themes, colors and locations will be accomplished with significant public input.)
- Construct raised median between Benson Boulevard and Northern Lights Boulevard, due to the poor results from less radical safety improvement projects last fall.
- Create off-street bus stops, where feasible and where willing land sellers are available, in coordination with MOA Public Transportation.
- Accommodate bicycles on street to the extent possible while retaining as much sidewalk width as possible by reducing lane widths and center-turn lane width. Reduce right-of-way impacts.
- Consider improvements outside of the right-of-way only where property owners are interested and cooperative and where funding allows.
- Design to eliminate parking configurations that require backing into the street
Project Goals:
- Build consensus among the owners and users of the roadway
- Provide a safer corridor for all users
- Reduce accident rates
- Improve access for pedestrians and other non-motorized transportation
- Improve public transportation access
- Make improvements to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements
- Enhance traffic flow and reduce congestion for today and 20 years into future
- Enhance aesthetics and sense of community with landscaping and amenities
