Alaska State Troopers have identified a former Anchorage Assembly member and longtime school teacher Karen Bronga as the victim in Friday’s Sterling Highway collision. The crash closed the highway in both directions for about eight hours at Milepost 62 near Skilak Lake.
Troopers say Bronga, 64, was the passenger in a motorhome traveling north when a southbound pickup truck veered into the opposite lane and struck the motorhome. Bronga was declared dead at the scene and the man driving the motorhome was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The woman driving the pickup was medevaced to Anchorage with serious injuries.
Troopers say the cause of the crash is under investigation, but that alcohol does not appear to be a factor.
Bronga represented East Anchorage on the Anchorage Assembly for two years and taught in the Anchorage School District for two decades. She was appointed to the assembly in 2023 after Forrest Dunbar was elected to the Alaska Senate. In 2024, Bronga announced she would not run for reelection. While on the assembly, Bronga sponsored legislation addressing gun safety in public schools and advocated for pedestrian safety.
Multiple public officials took to social media to remember Bronga’s contributions to Anchorage on and off the assembly.
Anchorage Rep. Andrew Gray called Bronga’s death a “huge tragedy for East Anchorage.”
“From her service on the Scenic Foothills community council to her advocacy for clean safe trails to her work on the Assembly regarding alcohol policy and teen safety, Karen served our community,” Gray wrote.
Yarrow Silvers, who replaced Bronga on the Anchorage Assembly, remembered her as an advocate for safe streets, good schools and municipal trails and green spaces.
“Karen never stopped showing up for our East Anchorage community,” Silvers wrote. “My heart is with her family and everyone who loved her. The east side lost a true champion, and I lost a mentor.”
