Building for Safety

Knik-Goose Bay Road reconstruction hits first major milestone

By Vanessa Orr

n fall 2022, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, or DOT&PF, began working on the first of two projects to reconstruct Knik-Goose Bay, or KGB, Road between Centaur Avenue and Settlers Bay Drive.

The $54.5 million project, scheduled for completion in 2028, is already making good progress, with the first phase, Fairview Loop to Centaur Avenue, opening to all four lanes of traffic in October.

“Phase 1 of the project was to take the existing two-lane road and provide a four-lane divided road,” explains Kyle Coffman, project manager with Granite Construction. DOT&PF had not originally planned to open all four lanes by the end of the 2023 season, but it happened faster than expected. “On Saturday, October 28, 2023, we were able to open all four lanes up to the public,” he continues. “The project team, including DOT, Granite, and our subs came together and accomplished a monumental milestone.”

The KGB Road Reconstruction Project is being developed in two separate phases. Phase I, the reconstruction of KBG Road from Fairview Loop to Centaur Avenue, is currently in construction with a completion date of fall 2024. Phase II, between Fairview Loop and Settlers Bay Drive, is currently in design with construction expected to begin in 2026. Coffman says phase one of the project is currently on time and on budget.

DOT&PF, in partnership with the Federal Highway Administration, or FHWA, greenlighted the KGB project in 2022. When finished, the project is expected to increase capacity and improve safety on KGB Road. The corridor is currently a two-lane highway that has exceeded its design capacity.

“The corridor currently experiences congestion, poor performance, and high collision rates—particularly during peak hours—due to limited capacity and a high density of driveway access,” explains Justin Shelby, Central Region administrative operations manager for DOT&PF. “Congestion issues along this corridor are only expected to increase, spurred by development along KGB Road, future land development in the Point MacKenzie area, and anticipated population growth in the Matanuska-Susitna.”

Before construction began, KGB Road had a fatal and major injury accident rate that was 3.8 times the national average. As a result, in 2008, it was designated as one of Alaska’s Traffic Safety Corridors, which is a short-term measure to temporarily improve safety until long-term improvements can be made. As a result of the designation, the commissioners of DOT&PF and the Alaska Department of Public Safety agreed to provide funding to increase emergency response, provide effective enforcement, and educate drivers. Other designated safety corridors in Alaska include the Seward, Parks, and Sterling highways.

The current construction project is a long-term solution designed to address the congestion, high collision rates, and overall poor performance experienced on KGB Road. To do this, Granite Construction will expand the corridor to a four-lane divided roadway from Centaur Avenue to Vine Road with a separated multiuse pathway on the north side, with 4-foot shoulders and 8-foot outside shoulders. In order to improve safety and reduce congestion, breaks in the median will occur approximately every half-mile to mile.

While the end result will make it much easier and safer to travel KGB Road, rerouting that much traffic during construction is not without difficulty.

“The most challenging part of the project was phasing the work in a way that was the least impactful to the traveling public,” says Coffman. “This was accomplished through four major phases during the 2023 construction season. These four phases moved traffic around, allowing us to open large areas of work to be completed without major traffic impacts.”

The goal of the phasing plan was to provide the greatest benefit to the most users, improve the highest-volume segment first, and expedite project delivery.

“While moving a major road from a two-lane to a four-lane divided road can’t be done without affecting traffic, through the strong partnership with DOT and the phasing plan, this project has had minimal impact to traffic,” he says.

Phase II construction is expected to begin in 2026. Similar to Phase I, Phase II will extend and expand the corridor to a four-lane, divided road with a separated multi-use pathway to Settlers Bay Drive. These improvements are expected to allow KGB to function more efficiently with fewer delays, more capacity, fewer crashes, and increased safety.

In addition to adding travel lanes to maximize through-capacity and minimize conflicts within the corridor, safety issues will be addressed through the use of medians and widened shoulders, additional and redesigned pedestrian facilities, and the reduction of the number of driveways and approaches that access KGB Road.

As of June 2023, the project design for phase two was approximately 75 percent complete, with the project team reviewing the proposed design based on updated traffic projections to determine if any modifications to the proposed design were needed. The team was also further evaluating drainage issues in the corridor based on public comments regarding ponding in the corridor and erosion issues resulting from concentrated areas of runoff.

According to a project update provided by DOT&PF, next steps include completing the hydrology and traffic analyses, refining the engineering plans, continuing to gather public input, working with utility companies to relocate any impacted facilities, and appraising and acquiring additional rights-of-way that are needed to complete the project.

To date, DOT&PF staff have worked closely with property owners on acquisitions in the 4-mile segment between Centaur Avenue and Fairview Loop. All of the property acquisitions for Phase I are complete, and acquisitions for Phase II are expected to be completed in 2026. Property owners who will be impacted by Phase II will be contacted in early 2024.

Despite the challenges and inconveniences caused by such a massive endeavor, it is hoped that the six-year project will result in a better, less dangerous route for Alaskans and visitors to use.

According to Coffman, “Once the project is complete, the biggest change will be a safer and long-lasting corridor.”