Johansen Expressway - Fairbanks

Johansen Expressway extends 4.19 miles east from Geist Road to SR 2 (Steese Expressway) across the north side of Fairbanks. Geist Road is a four lane boulevard connecting with SR 3 (Parks Highway) and Chena Ridge Road, 1.73 miles west from Johansen Expressway.

Johansen Expressway is a controlled access highway with single point interchanges at Exit 2 / Peger Road and Exit 4 / College Road. Exit 3 B is the intersection with Danby Street westbound preceding the ramp (Exit 3 A) to Aurora Drive. The easternmost stretch is an at-grade arterial serving a commercial strip anchored by several big box retail stores. Johansen Expressway is the only road in Alaska with exit numbers.

Roadway stubs and an unused overpass over the westbound roadway at mile marker 4 is a remnant from a 1980s plan to widen Illinois Street to six lanes and extend Minnie Street west to the Johansen Expressway. The extension was not built due to the discovery of contaminated soil at a rail yard along the proposed alignment. Development patterns in Fairbanks eventually shifted, decreasing usage along Illinois Street so much that after a 2002 traffic study, the state abandoned the plans for the six lane expansion.1 The unused overpass forms a stub for the Johansen Expressway bike trail, which lines the northern side of the Johansen Expressway.

$81 million in construction replaces the signalized intersection joining Johansen Expressway and Steese Highway with a diverging diamond interchange. Work is slated to begin in 2024, with major construction underway in 2025 and 2026. The project was approved by the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly by May 2, 2023.1

References:

  1. "Illinois Street Reconstruction Project has long history." Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK), November 11, 2012.
  2. "Borough gives its OK to Steese/Johansen interchange project." Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK), May 2, 2023.

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Page Updated Thursday June 15, 2023.