Matanuska-Susitna Borough reviews 400-page Community Growth Solutions Study; staff to bring recommendations back for priorities

Matanuska-Susitna Borough planning staff on Tuesday presented the Community Growth Solutions Study, a 400-page assessment of transportation and land-use challenges across three subareas of the borough and a separate Bogard corridor study, and asked the assembly to identify priorities for follow-up.

The study, prepared by HDR and funded by a federal earmark routed through the State of Alaska, recommends restoring regular traffic-demand modeling, prioritizing Official Streets and Highways Plan (OSHIP) corridors, undertaking reconnaissance studies for project cost estimates, considering limited borough road powers for right-of-way acquisition, and updating Title 43 and the subdivision construction manual.

Alex Strachan, the borough’s planning director, said the document is intended as a menu of solutions rather than a proposal to adopt the study into the comprehensive plan. "This is a study — I'm not proposing that this be adopted as part of the comprehensive plan," Strachan said, describing the package as an inventory of possible strategies for assembly members and future planning staff to choose from.

The study groups recommendations by subarea — Fish Hook Triangle, the UMed district and the Big Lake/Knox Goose Bay area — and includes technical analyses projecting level-of-service to 2045 and a prioritized list of future road corridors. Strachan said the corridor access…