Begich holds public meeting to address Seward Highway safety concerns

By Paddy Notar
Turnagain Times Correspondent

Alaska U.S. Sen. Mark Begich visited Girdwood on Aug. 31 to discuss what could be done to help make the Seward Highway a safer road to drive. The focus was on the safety corridor, which goes from mile 87 to mile 117.

From 1997 to 2009 there have been 31 fatalities and over 75 major injury accidents in that section of the highway. In 2010, there were four fatalities, and this year there have been five people killed in vehicle crashes.

Kevin Desmond, a resident of Girdwood, who attended the meeting along with about 30 other people, offered his opinion.

“It’s not rocket science,” he said. “You have to divide the highway. If they can’t do a divided four-lane highway then put a Jersey barrier down the center. Ask the DOT to talk to me. I’m an engineer. We can make it happen. If there’s no funding then stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The Jersey barrier is a modular concrete barrier that separates lanes of traffic. They’re also used to help protect pedestrians during highway construction. They stand 32 inches high and are made of steel reinforced concrete. They were developed to reduce the likelihood of a car crossing into oncoming traffic, which, on the Seward Highway, is one of the main reasons for many of the fatal crashes.

Begich told the audience that Alaska should not depend on federal highway funding to help remedy the situation because he said that for every dollar state tax payers pay in federal dollars, the state received $1.70 in return. But those days are over, he said, due to the current federal deficit. But he added, that Alaska is in a good position to pay for highway safety measures.

“Alaska is fortunate to have a surplus, not in the hundreds of millions, but in the billions,” Begich said. “I think state investment in infrastructure is a good idea.”

Begich added that Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood would be coming to Alaska in the near future. La Hood had scheduled two previous trips to Alaska, but he had to cancel them.

“When he comes, this stretch of road and its problems will be brought up to him,” Begich said.

Many of the people who attended the meeting held at the Girdwood Community Center, spoke out, presenting their own suggestions on how to make the highway safer.

Some suggestions to make the road safer included putting reflectors on the shoulders of the road so people can see the highway better during dark winter months, and adding more turnouts to alleviate traffic congestion.

Further suggestions included putting signs up to alert drivers to oncoming curves in the highway. And Begich proposed that the state place a sign at Potter Marsh that lists the number of highway fatalities and major injury accidents.

“Sometimes you have to hit people across the head with the realities of how dangerous this highway can be,” Begich said.

Another Girdwood resident, Rich Lauterbach, asked, “Why aren’t there buses from Girdwood to Anchorage? Anchorage has a bus system that goes to Eagle River.”

Lauterbach also expressed a frustration shared by many in the audience when he said, “The cops would rather write nuisance tickets for not wearing seatbelts in Girdwood instead of enforcing the highway.” No one representing the state troopers was present at the meeting.

Currently, the state troopers have up to six officers monitoring the highway out of the Girdwood post. Begich said when he was the mayor of Anchorage, he had Anchorage Police officers sent into the safety corridor at strategic locations to assist the troopers in patrolling the highway. The municipality border extends to Portage.

One resident suggested creating a delegation to represent the community’s interest and placing the delegation in Juneau to lobby for highway reform.

Begich took it a step further, suggesting that the Girdwood community align itself with other entities that are interested in keeping the highway safe.

“Think about who else uses the highway,” he said. “There are sport fishing organizations that would be interested in this cause. How about RV companies that rent to tourists? They also would be interested in helping. The more people you bring together the stronger your voice will be in Juneau.”