Kenai Peninsula Borough introduces Safe Streets plan for public hearing; plan stresses data-driven fixes and DOT partnership

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on an introductory motion added the borough's Safe Streets and Roads for All comprehensive safety action plan to the borough comprehensive plan and scheduled a public hearing for July 8, 2025.

Planning Director Robert Ruffner told the assembly the 90-plus page, data-driven plan was produced with outside consultants and focuses on reducing killed-or-serious-injury (KSI) crashes across state, municipal and borough roads. "About a year and a half ago, the borough was approached by DOT to have an opportunity to look into a federal program that's administered through the Federal Highway Administration," Ruffner said. He identified contractors involved in the planning effort as R and M Consultants, Michael Baker and Fairs and Pairs.

Why it matters: The plan seeks federal funding eligibility and sets priorities for safety projects on high-speed corridors where the most serious crashes occur. Because many of those corridors are state-owned, Ruffner said coordination with the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT) will be essential for implementation.

Ruffner said the plan includes eight chapters and eight appendices and that staff selected 20 priority areas based on crash data. "Most of those are going to occur on the high speed, roads, high injury network," he said, noting the borough also has a role where local access connects to higher-speed state roads.

In question-and-answer, Assemblymember Ackley and others raised concerns about local examples, including a Seward intersection where municipal officials and residents questioned whether the conceptual treatments proposed in the plan matched local needs. Ruffner said the plan's proposed solutions are conceptual and not binding: "Is it binding? Absolutely not," he said, adding that including a project in the plan could make it easier to pursue federal funding.

Ruffner also addressed right-of-way and property-acquisition concerns, saying the plan anticipates voluntary negotiations for right-of-way in most places and that DOT has modified plans in areas where acquisitions proved controversial.

The introduction was followed by a staff presentation and assembly questions; the ordinance was introduced and set for a public hearing on July 8, 2025. No final approvals or implementation actions were recorded in the provided transcript.