Mid Hillside Anchorage Community Council Roads

Road Work

A huge amount of money is spent building roads. The roads developed have a big impact on your life. Should we build more roads? Should we get more out of the roads we have? Can we encourage development that will let us drive less? Are trails recreational "amenities" or should the various ways of getting around without a car be considered legitimate transportation, too?

You don't have to sit by and have it happen to you. You can have a say in how the money is spent. That's what your community council is for!

Here are a couple sites with some inspiring information on how road building decisions are made and how you can influence the result: Take Back Your Streets and the Surface Transportation Policy Project.

O'Malley Road Reconstruction Project Environmental Assessment is now available! It's available here: http://www.hillsideroads.com/omalleyscope.htm

There will be a public meeting Thursday July 29th at 7pm at Hanshew Middle School (10121 Lake Otis, between Abbott and O'Malley).

DeArmoun Road Phase 2

When the plans for this project were unveiled in October of 2003 this developed into a contentious issue. Click here for more info.

We will have a joint meeting with the Huffman-O'Malley CC on November 20 at the Christian Church of Anchorage on the corner of Lake Otis and O'Malley. The goal of the meeting will be to learn more about the current status of this project and to consider a resolution to encourage DOT to consider a less invasive project.

Bragaw/Abbott Loop Extension

The money for this extension was provided as part of a statewide bond. The extension was considered as part of the EAST study. And the planning process has begun. For more info go to the project website http://www.abbottloop.com.

From an email 10/23/03:
The Abbott Loop Extension Web Site has been updated to show the comments we have received. Just go to: http://www.dowl.com/projects/abbottloop/comments120.htm The above web site will give you the first 20 comments we received. The comments have been listed as we received them. We have not made any changes to grammatical style except to delete comments that did not pertain to this project or those comments that did not pass the test for use of bad language or off-color remarks.

At the bottom of that page, are links to the rest of the public and agency comments we are receiving. We will be updating this list as additional comments arrive. Enjoy your reading and thanks for being part of this project.

Bob Kniefel DOWL Engineers

Local Road Service Areas

AMATS Public Participation Program

Resource Solutions, at the Environment and Natural Resources Institute at UAA, and the Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Study (AMATS) have been working on studying and improving public participation in the AMATS process. With a grant from the Federal Highways Administration, Resource Solutions and AMATS were able to begin the AMATS Public Participation Program.

AMATS is the group/process that develops the Anchorage area transportation system. The following publications are a first step to initiate an education program and to improve public participation in the AMATS process:

Citizens Handbook to Developing the Anchorage Area Transportation System. Provides a summary to community members about transportation system development.
Anchorage on the Move, AMATS Public Participation Program. A technical document describing AMATS, its decision making structure and public participation process. The intent is to provide AMATS and DOT Staff, and their contractors and consultants with the necessary tools to more effectively conduct public processes.
TIP Sheets. A series of 11 topics briefly describing AMATS and providing "TIPs" for effective public participation ranging from gathering community input, conducting public meetings, to public education and involving the under-served.

The publications and other information about Resource Solutions are available on the web at http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/enri/rs_site/revw.html. Information about AMATS is available on the web at http://www.muni.org/Services/Departments/Com/Trans/amats.html.

You can also find information about Hillside road construction and maintenance projects at http://www.hillsideroads.com.

If you have any questions about the AMATS Public Participation Program, please contact:
Margaret (Meg) King
Program Manager, Resource Solutions/UAA
707 A Street Anchorage, AK 99501
907-257-2716/907-257-2754 (fax)
anmjk@uaa.alaska.edu
http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/enri/rs_site/rs1.html