Engstrom-Bogard roundabout construction won’t start until 2027

What you need to know:

• Construction of the Engstrom-Bogard roundabout is now expected to begin next year due to funding issues and land acquisition delays. The project was originally targeted for completion in 2021.
• The project aims to reduce congestion and frequent crashes at the intersection, where thousands of vehicles navigate a one-way stop and cross busy Bogard Road each day.
• The roundabout will connect with Green Forest Drive, where a separate borough project will address speeding, traffic flow and safety. Public input for that project is open through April 6.

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PALMER — Full construction on the long-anticipated new roundabout at Engstrom and Bogard roads likely won’t start until next year, state transportation officials said.

The ongoing stall is caused by a combination of funding delays and prolonged sale negotiations between the state and the property owners who must sell land to make the project possible, officials said.

Utility relocations required for the project will likely start at the end of this summer, state officials said, but major construction likely won’t begin until next summer.

Initial plans for the roundabout were designed in 2018, with a completion date of 2021.

The project is intended to ease congestion in an area with frequent accidents as drivers travel on and off Engstrom. About 2,500 vehicles travel south on Engstrom to the intersection each day, using a one-way stop sign and crossing into traffic on the two-lane Bogard Road. About 13,500 vehicles travel on Bogard daily between the intersection and nearby Trunk Road, according to 2024 state traffic data, the most recent year available.

Officials said the roundabout project will allow vehicles to flow on and off Engstrom Road with minimal stopping and without crossing oncoming traffic on Bogard.

While hiccups and delays are frustrating for residents, they are not uncommon for complicated projects, Zach Kay, a designer with the Alaska Department of Transportation who is working on the project, said at the Mat-Su Transportation Fair earlier this year.

“A lot of projects take eight to 10 years,” he said. “There are a lot of pieces out of our control.”

Once installed, the new Bogard-Engstrom roundabout will also create a new alignment with Green Forest Drive.

Located on the south side of Bogard and offset just enough from Engstrom to cause additional backups and its own series of traffic accidents, Green Forest is the focus of a separate Matanuska-Susitna Borough-led project in development to address issues there, borough public works officials said at an open house meeting last week.

Officials overseeing the project are currently gathering information about what upgrades or changes residents and road users want to see on the corridor. That could include ways to slow speeding vehicles that use the street as a cut-through between Bogard Road and Palmer-Wasilla Highway. A recent electronic traffic counter clocked one user driving 90 mph, officials said.

“We're trying to figure out what — especially folks that live in the area — what do they see as their problems?” Borough Public Works Director Tom Adams said in an interview at the open house.

A public comment period and online survey on the project are open through April 6.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com