At its October 28 meeting, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly advanced the project to connect a current pathway from K-Beach Elementary to Kenai Peninsula College.
The resolution saw a fair amount of support from community members. A group of college students who weren’t able to attend the meeting asked KPC’s Associate Director of Residence Life Tammie Willis to read a letter they wrote which detailed current conditions along Poppy Lane.
Willis: “The need for a sidewalk such as this cannot be overstated, currently the only option for people traveling from Kalifornsky Beach Road to the three school on foot or bicycle is to either utilize the roadway or the rough sides of the road on Poppy Lane, often traveled by off road vehicles.”
KPC President Gary Turner said he was part of the presentation to legislators on the need for this project over the past three years.
Turner: “This area sees more and more foot traffic it seems almost every day. I drive this at night mostly and as most of you know it seems like all the students wear black so it’s even more difficult to see them at night. But you have students, young students from the age of five upwards to my age that are walking, biking, utilizing this area from K-beach down to the college.”
He added that he was happy to see this make the borough’s and City of Soldotna’s Capital Improvements Projects last year.
The borough accepted and appropriated $463,100 from the State of Alaska to construct the path that will connect accesses from Kenai Peninsula College and Alaska Christian College to the existing path that comes from the K-Beach bike path and ends at K-Beach Elementary School.