The group working to make the Sterling Highway safer brought new information to an open house in Soldotna last Thursday.
Thursday’s Sterling Safety Corridor Improvements open house comes about four months after a similar meeting in Sterling and with new data that shed light on why the Sterling-to-Soldotna stretch is so dangerous. Stephanie Queen, the project’s public involvement lead, told Soldotna City Council members last week they now know, for example, where most crashes happen.
“It might be no surprise to folks who are familiar with this highway – there are a lot of them between Fred Meyer and Mackey Lake,” she said.
In fact, during Thursday’s open house, a vehicle collision near the Birch Ridge Golf Course backed up traffic in both directions along the highway.
Project leads also now know that one in four crashes on the stretch of highway involves animals. Of those, most happen in winter, or when it’s dark outside. That indicates the highway could be made safer with continuous lights, or with culverts big enough for animals to cross under the highway.
Project leads are mostly focusing on two ways of making the highway safer. During the open house, a video explained how the different iterations could work.
“Different roadside conditions, driveway locations and driver behaviors may require a solution that is a combination of the intersection types,” the video said.
The first option would create a five-lane highway with a center turn lane.
Project leads say that option would preserve access to the highway’s side streets and driveways, could reduce overall crashes and is similar to other highways on the central peninsula. But, it wouldn’t significantly reduce head-on collisions. Pedestrians and cyclists would have more road to cross. And drivers may use the center lane as an illegal passing lane.
The other option being considered is a four-lane highway with a sunken median in the middle.
It would significantly reduce both head-on and overall crashes, create more space for emergency vehicles and snow equipment, and make traffic more efficient. But, it could limit access to businesses, cost more and generally expand the project’s overall footprint.
Queen told council members they’ve gotten mixed feedback from residents.
“There’s some areas of the project where there seems to be alignment and general support from the community and a lot of other areas where there’s maybe differing opinions,” she said.
Some of that feedback was sprinkled throughout the open house displays on Thursday. A sticky note on an aerial image of the highway favored protected left lanes and street lights. On a poster, people voiced their support for reducing the highway speed limit to 45 miles per hour from 55 miles per hour, more street lights and a turn lane.
The project depends on how much money is available. Construction isn’t expected to start until at least 2026.
State officials flagged this part of the highway for having higher than average rates of fatal and serious crashes. It’s one of only four pieces of highway statewide to receive a Traffic Safety Corridor designation, which makes more state resources available to improve safety.
In the meantime, there’s another open house tentatively slated for spring, and project leads are encouraging anyone interested in sharing their thoughts to reach out. Contact information and project documents are available on the project site.