‘Expect it to be bad’: State officials seek public input on upcoming Glenn Highway overhaul

WASILLA — State transportation officials are seeking public comment on a yearslong overhaul of the Glenn Highway from Anchorage to Palmer. The project, scheduled to begin next year, is expected to cause major traffic backups as portions of the highway are rerouted to a single lane in each direction.

“We are going to be giving the message ‘expect it to be bad,’ so much so that we are actually going to be encouraging people to work with their employers to consider teleworking options,” Chris Bentz, a project manager for the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, said in an interview at a project briefing held at the Wasilla Public Library late last year. “The truth of the matter is, 60,000 cars a day down to two to three lanes is impactful.”

The 33-mile project includes replacing layers of the highway last worked on in the 1950s, such as deep base pavement and 47 culverts, most of which are on the verge of failure due to age, Bentz said.

The work will stretch from Airport Heights in Anchorage to the Parks Highway interchange near Palmer. It will be completed in three two-year phases, starting next spring at Airport Heights and moving north to the Mat-Su, with completion expected in 2031.

Bentz said crews will also lengthen 15 of the highway’s on-ramps, including those at Eklutna and Fort Richardson, to improve traffic flow and reduce accidents. He said no lane widening or off-ramp extensions are planned.

The federally funded project is expected to cost at least $170 million. It has not been put out to bid, and a contractor has not been selected.

A public comment period is ongoing as planners work to balance traffic needs, construction costs and needed upgrades, they said. Comments can be submitted on the state’s transportation website.

About 60,000 vehicles travel the highway near Muldoon Road daily, with about 30,000 of those coming from Mat-Su, according to state traffic data.

Because the work will require crews to shut down entire lanes as they replace pavement and culvert pipes, officials also plan to build about 30 paved median crossovers that can be used to reroute traffic during construction or after major emergencies like an earthquake or a bridge collapse, said Will Webb, an official with state contractor Kinney Engineering.

Concrete barriers that can be moved as needed will block the crossovers when they’re not in use, Webb said. They will be similar to those built last year near the Knik River Bridge in preparation for a resurfacing project set to begin this summer, he said.

While the entire Glenn Highway restoration project is expected to have significant traffic impacts, construction slated to begin in 2028 on a roughly 12-mile stretch between the Hiland Road exit and Mirror Lake will likely cause the biggest headaches, officials said. That stretch includes most of the culvert replacements, including piping for Carroll Creek 30 feet below the North Eagle River interchange.

“Those culverts have been in place since the ‘50s — they are more than 75 years old, so it’s time,” he said. “It’s unfortunate for us being the ones that get to experience it, but it’s time.”

Bentz said the full extent of traffic disruptions will depend largely on construction costs. For example, replacing culverts by boring into the side of the roadbed instead of digging down through the pavement would reduce lane closures but is significantly more expensive. And accelerating the project schedule could help reduce costs but would increase traffic woes, he said.

“We can’t shut the highway down, so we have to keep traffic moving, but the more we keep it moving, the longer it takes to get work,” Bentz said.

Officials said a more detailed construction schedule will be announced later this year.

Republished with permission from the Mat-Su Sentinel, an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan online news source. Contact Amy Bushatz at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.