Construction is scheduled to begin soon on the Sterling Highway milepost 45-60 project. Planned construction will impact traffic flow. The project will reconstruct the east and west ends of the existing roadway from milepost 45 to 46.5 and milepost 56 to 58.
Shannon McCarthy, Media Liaison and Admin Operations Manager for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities spoke to KSRM, “This summer, people can look forward to a little bit of construction on the actual existing alignment right on milepost 56 to 58. That will be just bringing the western end of the project up to modern standards. Right now, it’s very a very narrow two lanes. It’ll be widening the shoulders, improving the geometry so that you have better site assistance. Of course, we’re going to do some wildlife undercrossings and retaining walls and all that kind of thing. There will definitely be some traffic delays, it’ll be a really nice facility afterwards.”
McCarthy says to plan for time to be added to your commute up to Anchorage from the Kenai Peninsula, “So we try to keep the delays fairly minimal. 15 minutes is what we’re really aiming for. Some people will get through with no delays and occasionally, especially if we’re having we’re having to move a large piece of equipment across the road, it can be over 15 minutes, but we try to keep that very minimal because we don’t want to impact folks who are trying to get here and there.”
Additionally, the project will construct 10 miles of new roadway north of Cooper Landing and the Kenai River, between milepost 46.5 and 55.5. Traffic studies predict that 70% of traffic will use the new highway rather than travel through Cooper Landing.
Other items in the works for the project include a new Resurrection Pass trailhead and parking lot with trail connections to the Resurrection Pass and Bean Creek trails as well as the Juneau Creek Falls overlook. New intersections will also be designed at the connection of the old and new highways. Construction also will include a new bridge spanning Juneau Creek Canyon which would feature four wildlife crossing structures.