Alaska

Started by Bickendan, May 22, 2018, 03:01:33 PM

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Alps

Quote from: hurricanehink on October 05, 2021, 11:05:54 AM
Have there been any updates/discussions on the Glenn to Seward Highway connection in Anchorage? This seems to be one of the largest potential transportation projects in the state, by virtue of affecting its largest city.
Last time I heard of it being seriously proposed it died again.


froggie

Speaking of highway connections, I recently discovered a project to build a DDI at the Steese Expwy/Johansen Expwy junction in Fairbanks.  The Steese (AK 2) would be the through route.  The project will also build a backage road connection between Farmers Loop Rd and the Johansen/Northside Blvd intersection.  Construction isn't expected before 2024.

Quillz

I've been to Fairbanks a few times and that intersection does get a lot of traffic, much more than I would have expected for a small town. A DDI makes sense.

hurricanehink

Has there been any update about the freeway connection between the Seward and Glenn Highways in Anchorage?

Alps

Quote from: hurricanehink on January 27, 2022, 06:25:57 PM
Has there been any update about the freeway connection between the Seward and Glenn Highways in Anchorage?
Fictional.

Plutonic Panda

Quote from: Alps on January 27, 2022, 06:56:59 PM
Quote from: hurricanehink on January 27, 2022, 06:25:57 PM
Has there been any update about the freeway connection between the Seward and Glenn Highways in Anchorage?
Fictional.
Are there any new proposed freeways in Alaska at the moment?

oscar

Quote from: Plutonic Panda on January 27, 2022, 07:30:07 PM
Are there any new proposed freeways in Alaska at the moment?

Not any I'm aware of.
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html

vdeane

Quote from: Alps on January 27, 2022, 06:56:59 PM
Quote from: hurricanehink on January 27, 2022, 06:25:57 PM
Has there been any update about the freeway connection between the Seward and Glenn Highways in Anchorage?
Fictional.
Sounds like it's one of those roads that's perpetually studied, like CT 11:
http://www.sewardglennmobility.com/FAQs.html#9
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

Alps

Quote from: vdeane on January 27, 2022, 09:26:41 PM
Quote from: Alps on January 27, 2022, 06:56:59 PM
Quote from: hurricanehink on January 27, 2022, 06:25:57 PM
Has there been any update about the freeway connection between the Seward and Glenn Highways in Anchorage?
Fictional.
Sounds like it's one of those roads that's perpetually studied, like CT 11:
http://www.sewardglennmobility.com/FAQs.html#9
Yup but has even less of a chance of being completed through the city. Better chance of I-A201 getting done as a beltway someday.

Kniwt

Anchorage Daily News updates the status of the proposed 100-mile West Sustina Access Road:
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/mat-su/2022/02/12/plans-for-a-disputed-mega-road-through-the-susitna-valley-backcountry-are-moving-forward-again/

QuoteA nearly decade-old proposal for a 100-mile road through the rugged backcountry west of the Susitna River is moving forward again, generating optimism for new mines and public access but also concerns over potential threats to a sprawling wildlife-rich remote area close to Alaska's urban center.

Currently estimated at more than $350 million, the West Susitna Access road as proposed would run from Point MacKenzie to the Yentna Mining District in the Alaska Range, where numerous mining companies are eying potentially lucrative deposits.

... Now work on the project's third phase, the two-year process of getting federal wetlands permits, is starting after the Mat-Su Borough Assembly voted to support AIDEA's work on the permits.

... The road would bisect a roughly Vermont-sized area dotted with cabins and lodges that depend on the remote character of the area, a destination for fishing, hunting, subsistence activities, dog mushing and snowmachining.

Critics including wilderness lodge owners say that, given the lack of immediate timber or coal prospects, the road would basically subsidize foreign mining activities at the expense of the remote character and fish and wildlife that attract people now.


Plutonic Panda

It's not like there isn't hundreds of millions of other acres in Alaska that are untouched.

Stephane Dumas

There was a landslide who cut the road linking Seward to Lowell Point.
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2022/05/09/work-begins-on-clearing-huge-lowell-point-landslide/

QuoteWorkers have started to clear a vast landslide that severed the community of Lowell Point, outside Seward, from its only road access Saturday. But officials have warned it could be up to two weeks before the road is fully usable again.

The access road to Lowell Point has seen smaller avalanches and landslides from the steep slopes of Bear Mountain. But on Saturday at about 7:30 p.m. a tumble of dirt and trees an estimated 200 feet long and 300 feet wide came down, burying the narrow road.

"The mountain just shed,"  said City Clerk Brenda Ballou said.

No injuries were reported, and no problems related to the large debris field that spilled into Resurrection Bay have been recorded, Ballou said Monday. The city set up a shelter but no one had needed it as of Monday, she said.

On Monday, contractors used excavators to begin the process of hauling away the dirt. The debris field is estimated at 40,000 cubic yards, Ballou said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLsV3BmIkTI

Rothman

Landslide personified.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

Plutonic Panda

Quote from: Rothman on May 14, 2022, 05:02:06 PM
Landslide personified.
Nyhe build them on there with beans it won't prevent future landslides but tunnels will. Alaska will need a new freeway network and soon.

Stephane Dumas

Looks like Alaska DOT study a new northernly crossing to link Juneau and Douglas Island.
http://www.jdnorthcrossing.com

Alps

Quote from: Stephane Dumas on May 30, 2022, 04:23:25 PM
Looks like Alaska DOT study a new northernly crossing to link Juneau and Douglas Island.
http://www.jdnorthcrossing.com
Interesting concept - I don't think it would really warrant a second bridge from a traffic standpoint (compared to most of America) unless Juneau grows as a city and Douglas develops that much more as a suburb, but I can see the benefit to a second crossing in case anything happens to the first.

Kniwt

Anchorage Daily News reports:
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2022/08/01/state-of-alaska-proposes-major-overhaul-of-seward-highway-intersection-near-girdwood/

QuoteThe state is looking at building an interchange on the Seward Highway outside Girdwood, with looping extensions over the wetlands on either side, for at least $35 million.

Alaska road engineers say the plan, still in its early design phase, will dramatically improve safety at the T-junction where the Seward and Alyeska highways meet.

A fatality hasn't been recorded there since at least 1980, and the number of crashes isn't high compared to other similar intersections in Alaska, engineers say. But they say traffic is growing, and the left-hand turns through oncoming traffic are risky and can result in serious accidents.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxOcYR8Ef4w

MikeTheActuary

Quote from: Kniwt on August 02, 2022, 04:12:13 AM
Anchorage Daily News reports:
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2022/08/01/state-of-alaska-proposes-major-overhaul-of-seward-highway-intersection-near-girdwood/

QuoteThe state is looking at building an interchange on the Seward Highway outside Girdwood, with looping extensions over the wetlands on either side, for at least $35 million.

Alaska road engineers say the plan, still in its early design phase, will dramatically improve safety at the T-junction where the Seward and Alyeska highways meet.

A fatality hasn't been recorded there since at least 1980, and the number of crashes isn't high compared to other similar intersections in Alaska, engineers say. But they say traffic is growing, and the left-hand turns through oncoming traffic are risky and can result in serious accidents.

I remember that intersection from my trip up there a couple of weeks ago.   I stopped at the "mall" for a bio break, and drove up to Alyeska looking for a good place to take a picture of the local mountainscape.

It seemed like a busy intersection; it was a little challenging turning from the Alyeska Highway onto the Seward Highway northbound, and there was a line of traffic waiting to turn southbound.

This interchange feels like a bit much for what I saw....but I admit that I saw the intersection only at two points in time, probably not at peak times.  I'd be tempted to say that a traffic light and some protected turn lanes would be sufficient, except for the obvious risks involved with adding a traffic light to a long highway that currently doesn't have any traffic lights.

Stephane Dumas

Quote from: MikeTheActuary on August 02, 2022, 08:24:50 AM
This interchange feels like a bit much for what I saw....but I admit that I saw the intersection only at two points in time, probably not at peak times.  I'd be tempted to say that a traffic light and some protected turn lanes would be sufficient, except for the obvious risks involved with adding a traffic light to a long highway that currently doesn't have any traffic lights.

I guess the risks might be the same results if they have chosen a roundabout to replace that intersection?

MikeTheActuary

Quote from: Stephane Dumas on August 02, 2022, 04:18:04 PM
Quote from: MikeTheActuary on August 02, 2022, 08:24:50 AM
This interchange feels like a bit much for what I saw....but I admit that I saw the intersection only at two points in time, probably not at peak times.  I'd be tempted to say that a traffic light and some protected turn lanes would be sufficient, except for the obvious risks involved with adding a traffic light to a long highway that currently doesn't have any traffic lights.

I guess the risks might be the same results if they have chosen a roundabout to replace that intersection?

I think there'd be similar/analogous concerns.

A simple diamond interchange would probably work adequately, although keeping traffic moving during construction would be an interesting challenge given the wetlands concerns.

triplemultiplex

Quote from: Kniwt on August 02, 2022, 04:12:13 AM


What's the deal with that "extra" ramp connecting back to Seward Hwy SB?  There's no point in having that.
They could really lessen the wetland impacts with a simple diamond interchange; probably cheaper too.
"That's just like... your opinion, man."

Bickendan

Maybe it's a truck ramp to mitigate weaving from traffic from the loop ramp?

Seems excessive.

Rick Powell

Quote from: Bickendan on August 04, 2022, 05:58:44 PM
Maybe it's a truck ramp to mitigate weaving from traffic from the loop ramp?
The loop ramp is carrying traffic in the opposite direction from the SB exit ramp, so truck weaving shouldn't be a concern. The SW entrance ramp's only function seems to be an "oops" ramp where people who had mistakenly exited going south can get back on the southbound highway.

vdeane

Quote from: Rick Powell on August 08, 2022, 09:54:09 AM
Quote from: Bickendan on August 04, 2022, 05:58:44 PM
Maybe it's a truck ramp to mitigate weaving from traffic from the loop ramp?
The loop ramp is carrying traffic in the opposite direction from the SB exit ramp, so truck weaving shouldn't be a concern. The SW entrance ramp's only function seems to be an "oops" ramp where people who had mistakenly exited going south can get back on the southbound highway.
And one would think that an "oops" traffic could just turn around at the roundabout...
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

Plutonic Panda

Apologies if this has been posted here before but I absolutely loved this video and couldn't imagine what it was like for the men who built this beast:






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