New lanes, signals set to go live soon on Seward Meridian Parkway
Remaining project work, including a new section of road, is delayed until next year.
What you need to know:
- Seward Meridian Parkway between Palmer-Wasilla Highway and Bogard Road will expand from two to four lanes by mid-November, with new signals and traffic patterns.
- The upgrades are part of a $44 million, multiyear project that includes road widening, a new pedestrian path, intersection signals and 97 light poles.
- Remaining work, including a key road connection to Seldon Road and pedestrian path paving, will be delayed until next spring.
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WASILLA — Drivers along the busy Seward Meridian Parkway will soon have four full lanes of travel and new signals as the latest milestone in a years-long widening project along the thoroughfare.
The road is expected to expand from two to four lanes along an approximately one-mile section between the Palmer-Wasilla Highway and Bogard Road before work shuts down for the winter, no later than mid-November, Alaska state transportation officials said.
Although crews recently finished paving and the road appears ready to use, they still need to complete work on a pair of new intersection stoplights and install some light poles before opening both new northbound lanes, officials said.
When the northbound side opens, the new stoplights will be fully functional, and new right-in, right-out only turning patterns will be in effect, said Jonathan Tague, an Alaska Department of Transportation engineer overseeing the project.
About 13,000 drivers travel the road daily, according to state traffic data.
The updates are part of a multiyear, $44 million Seward Meridian widening and extension project that stretches from the Palmer-Wasilla Highway to about two miles north at Seldon Road.
Tague said construction will shut down for winter and restart next spring, with most of the final work focused on completion of a new section of road linking the area south of Bogard with the section that meets Seldon Road to the north.
While Tague originally hoped that section would be finished this year, a handful of small delays put the project just far enough behind to force that delay, he said.
Paving of a new pedestrian path running along the parkway and full lighting installation is also delayed until next summer, Tague said. The road will ultimately have 97 light poles, he said.
The new lanes, signals and updated traffic patterns are expected to make the road safer and reduce the rate of accidents, he said. Instead of sitting in the road, triggering traffic delays and then crossing oncoming traffic, drivers turning left at the heaviest traffic points will wait in so-called turn pockets before turning with the signal.
“Just having the signals up and working, and having opposing traffic on either side of the median, will be a big safety improvement,” he said.
Nineteen-year-old Wasilla resident Jessalyn Helms was killed last year in a collision near the intersection of Seward Meridian and East Country Field Circle when she did not yield to traffic, according to Alaska public safety officials. Traffic at that intersection will now be controlled by a new signal.
-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com