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North Douglas residents press Juneau for area plan, safer roads and 'bench road' study
Summary
At a Juneau City and Borough community listening session on the comprehensive plan update, North Douglas residents and neighborhood leaders called for an immediate area-specific plan, safety improvements on North Douglas Highway and study of a long-discussed ‘bench road’ to separate through-traffic from neighborhood streets.
At a Juneau City and Borough community listening session focused on North and West Douglas, residents on Tuesday urged city planners to create a North Douglas area plan and to prioritize traffic and safety improvements on North Douglas Highway.
Speakers said ongoing and proposed development — from housing to tourism-related projects near the end of the island — is already stressing the neighborhood’s residential road and pedestrian facilities. "We have been asking for an area planning process for North Douglas — not unlike Lemon Creek or the waterfront — for well over two decades," said Mike Stanley, a North Douglas resident and long-time member of the North Douglas Neighborhood Association.
Residents described frequent large trucks, tour buses and bikes using a narrow shoulder that walkers, children waiting for school buses, dog walkers and people on motorized wheelchairs also use. "Our number one priority is the safety of residents and visitors who use the North Douglas Road," said Kathy Coghill, representing the North Douglas Neighborhood Association Committee on Traffic and Safety. She noted the area has seen an increase in heavy trucks and tour vehicles since the 2008 and 2013 comp plans and said safety measures listed in prior plans — separated pedestrian and bicycle pathways, reduced speed limits and bus pull-offs — remain unimplemented.
Many speakers favored studying a long-discussed "bench road," a bypass above the existing highway that would carry through traffic and buses while leaving the current North Douglas Highway as a low-speed neighborhood street. "The Bench Road provides us with that ability," said Patricia Collins, adding that the bench area includes large pockets of buildable land and could reduce through traffic and increase access to housing. Support was not unanimous: Robin Marriott Chartrand, a North Douglas resident, said she opposed a bench road because it would open meadows to new development and change neighborhood character.
Speakers also pressed for an area-specific planning process before major projects advance. "Development is inevitable, but must have conditions that do not harm the residents who live along North Douglas Highway," said Pam Hart, the North Douglas Neighborhood Association president. Several people asked that the city and borough require an area plan rather than defer neighborhood-level decisions until the general comprehensive-plan rewrite is complete.
Residents supplied operational details and background from earlier plans. Kathy Coghill said the 2013 comprehensive plan (section 8.8) recommended many of the measures now sought by neighbors; Fred Hiltner recounted multiple crashes on the highway he has helped respond to and said the road is "clearly overcapacity." Speakers asked the planning team to bring an explicit, funded timeline for a North Douglas area plan and to coordinate with the Department of Transportation and other agencies that have jurisdictional roles.
The planning team reiterated that this meeting is the listening phase of the two-and-a-half-year comprehensive-plan update, and that comments will be collected through Sept. 7 via the project email and website. Several speakers asked the city to seek earlier, concrete commitments — not just aspirational language — for safety improvements and area planning.
Why it matters: North Douglas is a residential corridor that residents say is being used increasingly as a transit corridor for commercial traffic and tourism. Neighbors argue the lack of an up-to-date area plan and the incremental permitting of projects have left the road and nearby neighborhoods exposed to safety and quality-of-life impacts that could be mitigated by targeted planning and infrastructure investment.
Ending: The planning team said it will post a meeting summary and that the listening phase continues; residents said they will press the neighborhood association’s long-standing requests for an area plan at upcoming public meetings, including a planning commission session scheduled for the following evening.
