It is a story that has played out many times in the construction world. An area experiences population growth, leading to traffic congestion on its streets. Then, infrastructure construction occurs to reduce congestion. In the case at hand, that area is the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in southcentral Alaska.
The population in Matanuska-Susitna Borough — which is home to Wasilla, Alaska, the fourth largest city in the state — has nearly doubled in the last 20 years. Over the last 10 years, the borough has seen 2 to 3 percent annual growth. Wasilla has approximately 20,000 residents, and the total population of the borough is nearly 120,000.
About 40 miles north of Anchorage (the largest city in the state), the borough has more affordable housing than its southern neighbor.
One of the primary roads in the borough that people use to commute to Anchorage is Knik-Goose Bay (KGB) Road. KGB Road, which runs for about 20 miles, had an average daily traffic of 20,000 in 2018, and it is projected to reach 32,000 in 2040. The traffic consists primarily of passenger vehicles.
In addition to rising traffic counts, KGB Road has a poor safety record. In 2009, it was labeled a safety corridor (one of three remaining in Alaska) due to the high accident rate and fatalities. The accident rate on KGB Road is four times the national average.
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The corridor is particularly congested during peak hours due to limited capacity and a high density of driveway access. Officials expect congestion issues to increase dHamilton Constructionue to development along KGB, future land development in the Point MacKenzie area, and anticipated population growth in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley.
KGB Road is currently a two-lane highway. As part of the project, the team will expand 4 miles of KGB Road to a four-lane divided highway. The road will have a separated multi-use pathway on the north side, 4-foot inside shoulders, and 8-foot outside shoulders.
In addition to the expansion, the project entails drainage improvements, intersection improvements, grading, paving, pathways, illumination, and signalization.
The illumination — continuous highway lighting — is expected to bring down the accident rate. KGB Road is part of a moose migration path. There are hundreds of moose vehicle collisions per year in the Mat-Su Valley and dozens on KGB. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) believe better lighting will help drivers see moose and react to their presence.
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The team is also improving visibility and eliminating left-turning access. “Previously, there was lots of driveway access,” said Todd Smith, a Project Engineer with DOT&PF. “We consolidated turning traffic to controlled access and added a fourth intersection to reduce potential collision points.”
There are multiple businesses along KGB Road, and business owners were initially concerned about the left turn elimination. “We require businesses be accessible at all times,” Smith said. There are also homes off KGB Road.
The accessibility requirements forced Granite Construction, the general contractor on the project, to carefully consider how they built/phased the job.
“We phased the project and divided the area so that we keep the public away from the work zones,” said Kyle Coffman, a Senior Project Manager with Granite. “Building crossovers through the phases allowed locals [to] get to where they need to go.”
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Another challenge of the project was the inclusion of a large utility relocation package. The aim was to get the utilities moved during phase one of the project (three to four months). Phase two was scheduled to begin one month later. Granite was required to start work at the same time the utility work was taking place. Granite worked where the utilities did not. This required flexibility.
“We had many conversations and communicated that we are here to work with and support you from day one,” Coffman said. “We strove to make the process for the utilities as clean and as efficient as possible.” Both Granite and DOT&PF communicated that they are one team and that utility relocation is essential.
This occurred in 2022 and set the project up for 2023. The utilities were moved even quicker than was hoped. Coffman and Smith attribute this to buy-in from all. “It was obvious to everyone who was part of the team that the job would not succeed if we didn’t address the utilities right away,” Smith said.
Granite has striven to deliver smoothly paved asphalt, which is important to DOT&PF. The team typically cuts the joint and moves on. However, they were not getting an acceptable smoothness level on the bottom lift of asphalt. So, they set up a sonic tracker on the milling machine to get rid of imperfections in the bottom lift to achieve a smoother final lift of asphalt.
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Granite Construction works regularly with DOT&PF, particularly in the Anchorage area. The current project is close to Granite’s home office.
“We have a foot in the door in the area, which made this project especially attractive to us,” Coffman said. “We have a crew in the area and the timing was good to keep them busy, which helps the region as whole.”
Granite has facilities in the area that helped make them more competitive. On the KGB Road expansion, the Lucas Quarry supplied 5,000 tons of riprap, the Wolf Aggregate facility provided 650,000 tons of borrow, and the Palmer Hot Plant supplied 75,000 tons of hot-mix asphalt.
These factors enabled Granite to win the low-bid project. While Coffman and Smith have not worked together previously (Smith has not worked with Granite since 2007), the DOT&PF Project Engineer has been very pleased with the contract. “This is a small market, so word gets around,” Smith said. “He and Granite have a good reputation.”
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The project began in summer 2022, and the anticipated conclusion is the third quarter of 2024. The project opened all four lanes ahead of schedule at the end of the 2023 season and is on track to complete the project on schedule.
Smith credits Granite for their project management and the spirit of partnership. “There has been a team-first mentality on this project,” Coffman agreed. “We work together to handle issues and maximize opportunities.”
Granite was awarded the contract in August 2022. The state had a short, aggressive partnering session. “We did a trial run that went so well,” Smith said, “that we didn’t need to do it formally. We came to the project with a similar mindset.”
The Federal Highway Authority is financing 91 percent of the $55 million construction project, and the state is paying the remainder. The project is currently on budget. That is primarily due to a few change orders. One minor design issue (which is responsible for most of the change order budget) was mitigated.
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“We’ve been able to reuse a portion of onsite materials, as there are lots of gravel sites in the area, which helps to lower costs,” Smith said. “Granite has worked with us in phasing and incorporated the onsite materials as much as possible, which has offset some elements that were not anticipated.”
It is expected that growth in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough will continue. The KGB expansion is both for the current population and the projected growth. Local police have noted less severe accidents while the public adjusts to the construction. Business owners report that the public has quickly figured out how to enter and exit their lots. This is all with one section fully opened. Soon, the project will finish, and the benefits should be even more.
- Owner/Designer: Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
- General Contractor: Granite Construction, Watsonville, California
- Design Support: HDR, Inc. (traffic engineering), Kinney Engineering, LLC (noise study and sewer & water relocation design), DOWL (public involvement), Michael Baker International, Inc. (value engineering study), AWR Engineering, LLC (hydraulic and hydrologic design support), Electric Power Systems, Inc. (ROW services)
- Other Key Contractors: Northern Dame, Wasilla, Alaska; Sturgeon Electric, Henderson, Colorado; Hamilton Construction, Skagway, Alaska; Pacific Asphalt, Anchorage, Alaska; McKinley Fence, Wasilla, Alaska; Jolt Construction, Big Lake, Alaska; Acme Fence, Anchorage, Alaska
