By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times
Alaska Department of Transportation officials and state troopers met for an annual review of the Seward Highway Safety Corridor.
On May 26, 2006, the state implemented double fines and lowered the speed limit to 55 mph in the safety corridor on the Seward Highway between Potter Marsh and Girdwood, and stepped up highway patrols and utilized selective enforcement, along with increased speeding signs along the highway.
And the safety measures seem to be working. The statistics, which are based on 100 million motor vehicle miles, shows crash rates within the corridor have been reduced from 13.10 per 100 million motor vehicle miles before the safety corridors were implemented to only 1.22 afterwards. Speeding tickets have also been reduced by nearly half to 239 from the previous year of 490.
“I think its great,” said Bill Chadwick, Girdwood’s Fire Chief, who attended the safety review meeting. “I hope its not temporary. We’ve got the busy season coming yet. We’ve all still got a lot of work to do.”
One fatality was reported last year within the corridor, and another occurred at milepost 88, two miles south of Girdwood and outside the safety corridor.
Mile 88 has been identified as a high-speed, high accident concentration area, and that section of highway may be added to the safety corridor, said Chadwick. He said they will likely extend the corridor beyond mile 88, and the DOT Commissioner is expected to make the final decision soon.
Officials left the meeting with a handful of recommendations to further improve safety on the Seward Highway. They suggested adding two additional state troopers to the Girdwood post, blocking railroad mile markers from public view, which can be mistaken by motorists as milepost markers when accidents are reported creating confusion for emergency responders, and installing half-mile markers for greater accuracy during crash reports. Lastly, a 50-year plan was recommended to address a four-lane divided highway between Girdwood and Anchorage.