Project Description

Study Description

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF), Central Region, is conducting a Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) Study identify and evaluate options to improve transportation mobility, safety, access, and connectivity between the Seward Highway, near 20th Avenue and the Glenn Highway, east of Airport Heights. The project will also identify ways to improve access to and from the Port of Alaska to the highway network.  
The study will build on past work in the area to develop long-term solutions to safety, congestion, access, connectivity, and freight needs. It will result in an implementation plan that describes how the study recommendations can be phased, funded, and implemented given competing statewide transportation priorities. Specific tasks include planning, environmental studies, traffic forecasting, travel demand modeling, developing a purpose and need statement, alternatives development, cost estimating, implementation phasing, and public involvement. 

Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) Study

The study is being prepared as a Planning and Environmental Linkages Study (PEL). PEL studies represent a collaborative and integrated approach to transportation decision making that considers environmental, community, and economic goals and impacts early in the transportation planning process and uses the information, analysis, and products developed during planning to inform the environmental review process. The PEL process reduces duplication, shortens the project delivery timeline, and refines the level of effort for future environmental review processes.

A PEL Study process is an approach to transportation decision-making that helps:

• Identify potential benefits and impacts on neighborhoods, the environment, and the economy early in the planning stage, making the project more efficient and cost-effective.
• Engage partner agencies, stakeholders, and the public to build project awareness and support through transparent and consistent communication.
• Provide opportunities early and often for the public to provide input that shapes the study.
• Narrow down the range of project alternatives to carry into future environmental review, design, and construction project steps. 
• Better environmental outcomes
• Better decision making
• Accelerated project delivery during subsequent environmental approvals

Learn more about the PEL process in our Project Library tab.

Study Area

The study will identify and evaluate improvements needed to improve transportation mobility, safety, access, and connectivity between the Seward Highway, near 20th Avenue and the Glenn Highway, east of Airport Heights Drive and will also identify ways to improve access to and from the Port of Alaska.  The study area is shown below.

Schedule

The PEL Study process will begin in Summer of 2021 and will take about 36 months, finishing in Spring 2024.