The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF), Central Region, is conducting a Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) Study to identify and evaluate options to improve transportation mobility, safety, access, and connectivity between the Seward Highway, near 20th Avenue to the Glenn Highway east of Airport Heights. Currently, the two controlled access freeways are connected through the study area by slower speed arterial roads. The project will also identify ways to improve access to and from the Port of Alaska to the highway network. The PEL Study process gives DOT&PF an opportunity to engage the community and stakeholders in identifying transportation needs and developing and narrowing down alternatives that can be carried into future environmental review and design.
The study is being managed by the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities in cooperation with the Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions (AMATS) staff. AMATS isthe Metropolitan Planning Organization responsible for transportation planning for theAnchorage Bowl and Chugiak-EagleRiver areas.
The study area generally follows Bragaw Street on the East, Chester Creek on the South, C Street on the west and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on the north. It includes areas where potential transportation improvements could be developed between the Glenn and Seward Highways and to and from the Port of Alaska. The study area is broad enough to also gauge how traffic levels on parallel routes may be affected.
The study is being prepared as a Planning and Environmental Linkages Study. According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Planning and Environment Linkages Studies represent a collaborative and integrated approach to transportation decision-making that 1) considers environmental, community, and economic goals early in the transportation planning process, and 2) uses the information, analysis, and products developed during planning to inform the environmental review process. See more at: Planning and Environment Linkages | Environmental Initiatives | Environmental Review Toolkit | FHWA (dot.gov)
Learn more about the PEL process in this downloadable handout.
The PEL process aids the transportation decision-making process. The PEL Study will:
Learn more about the PEL process in this downloadable handout.
The PEL Study process will begin in Summer of 2021 and will take about 36 months, finishing in Spring 2024.
The PEL study is identified in MTP 2040, the adopted Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) for Anchorage. The plan indicates that the study’s intent is to define a vision for a potential future highway connection, identify environmental and resource concerns and opportunities in the study area, and use the information to develop reasonable alternatives through consultation with the affected agencies and the public. This PEL study is officially titled the “Seward Highway to Glenn Highway Planning and Environmental Linkages Study” (IRIS Program No. CFHWY00550 | Federal Project No. 0001653).
DOT&PF started an environmental impact statement for the Highway to Highway project, but it was canceled in 2010. Connecting the Seward and Glenn Highways remains a priority in the AMATS Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP 2040). In a previous PEL study (Midtown Congestion Relief PEL), DOT&PF reevaluated the Midtown section of the H2H project along the Seward Highway (between Tudor Road and 20th Avenue). This current PEL study will examine the area from 20th Avenue to Airport Heights Drive. Considerable time has gone by since 2010, when the need for connecting the Seward and Glenn Highways was last studied in detail. This study will reexamine the corridor’s transportation needs by looking at new traffic forecasts, new origin-destination travel studies, and will examine potential alternatives and their impacts.
When the project area was last studied in detail, the Knik Arm Crossing project, and a viaduct roadway connecting Gambell/Ingra to the Port of Alaska were still in the adopted transportation plan. Since then, economic conditions, like the ongoing recession, are vastly different, and growth and land use development patterns are now subject to a newly adopted land use plan map. For these reasons, traffic patterns and congestion levels are anticipated to be different than the last study that ended in 2010. It is important to reexamine the transportation needs in light of these changes to ensure the improvements are addressing the existing needs.
The study is intended to address safety, congestion, access, connectivity, and freight needs on the Seward and Glenn Highways and to the Port of Alaska within the study area. To accomplish this, the project team will conduct planning and environmental studies, traffic forecasting and travel demand modeling, and document purpose and needs for any transportation improvements. Alternatives will be developed to address identified problems based on engineering analysis. As a PEL study, the effort will integrate community and environmental factors into the decision-making process, with a strong emphasis on public involvement.
Once the final PEL Study is complete, a project (or components of the overall plan) may move forward for additional environmental review and engineering design through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. The results of the study may also feed into a subsequent update of the MTP 2040, potentially updating needed improvements, cost estimates, and timing and phasing of improvements.
Your input is important. Stay updated and share your thoughts by:
If you have questions, please reach out anytime to the project team at:
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info@sewardglennmobility.com |
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(907) 206-2289 |
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