New roads plan could bring more federal money to Mat-Su -- and officials want your help

What you need to know:

• The public can weigh in on a long-term transportation plan for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough that will determine which road and infrastructure projects receive federal funding. Input is being collected through December, including at a Dec. 3 open house in Palmer.
• Local officials and community councils must follow a formal nomination process, while residents can provide input online or in person. A regional planning organization is overseeing the effort, and all planning meetings are open to the public.
• The plan is required under federal funding rules for areas that exceed a certain population threshold hit by Mat-Su’s core area during the 2020 census.

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PALMER — A plan that will determine which Matanuska-Susitna Borough area road and transportation projects can receive federal funding is gathering public input through the end of December, with an open house scheduled for early next month.

The plan looks to cover the next 20 years and may include projects ranging from road widening to accommodate growing traffic volume to new crosswalks aimed at improving pedestrian safety, project officials said.

Just how easily projects are added to the process depends on who you are, planning officials said. Local government and community council officials will go through an official project-nominating process that includes technical details such as local funding possibilities. Residents can use an online portal or attend the open house to identify areas where they see challenges.

“This is really looking at ‘what are your feelings about the current transportation network, and what is working and not working?’” said Anjie Goulding, a planning manager helping oversee the process. “That will all be going into our consideration for how projects get ranked.”

The plan is one of several required for areas considered “urban” under federal funding rules, a threshold Mat-Su’s core area reached during the 2020 census. The process is overseen by Mat-Su Valley Planning for Transportation, a federally designated metropolitan planning organization that helps guide regional officials through rules triggered by urban status -- including how such plans are created, who is involved, and how funding is distributed, officials said.

The newly required rules also increase the importance of the transportation plan in securing any federal funding for projects across Mat-Su, Goulding said.

Other local transportation plans borough or city officials create are sometimes treated as suggestion lists that are easily ignored. But this process is different, she said.

Federal policy for urban areas requires that money flow only to projects included in the short- and long-term plans created by the planning group, she said. The rules also require the projects to get frequent updates, she said.

“We see exhaustion when it comes to plans and input, and that’s something that we’re hoping to combat,” she said. “The thing that’s different about this is once you have a (Metropolitan Planning Organization) established, unless you are doing these things -- creating the plans, updating them regularly, following the plan -- we don’t qualify for transportation funding.”

Officials will gather project nominations through December, then spend the next several months shaping them into an official document with a policy committee of city, borough, and Knik and Chickaloon tribal officials, they said. Those meetings are open to the public.

Residents can attend the open house to learn more and suggest projects. The event is scheduled for Dec. 3 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Borough Administration Building in Palmer. A brief project presentation is scheduled for 5 p.m. 

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentienl.com