Construction Report: Bus pullout areas installed along College Road

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - The Alaska Department of Transportation is adding four pullout areas for bus stops along the length of College Road.

According to Danielle Tessen, Public Information Officer with the Alaska Department of Transportation, College Road often gets busy with both vehicle and pedestrian traffic. “We’ve got the Fairgrounds located here. We have the Farmer’s Market and we have a lot of traffic with a lot of driveways that come out onto the road.”

The project started on August 23 and comes after an analysis with MACS Transit and area businesses. “You’re able to really look at the space and identify what safety improvements can be made, and also to continue to have good mobility in the area,” Tessen explained.

Pedestrians are also expected to see benefits from the project, including increased accessibility. “We’re not only improving the flow of traffic. We’re also improving the accessibility for the users who are wanting to use that bus stop.”

These pullouts need to have certain dimensions to function properly. “When we have the bus pullouts, it’s really important to have pullouts that allow the bus to go off the road so it’s out of traffic as well as having enough adequate site distance for coming back into traffic,” Tessen said.

At the same time these four pullouts are being constructed, two are being taken out, leaving a net gain of two for the road.

While there will be lane closures, there are no full cutoffs of College Road traffic expected. “We’re going to work where we’re at from start to finish and move along College Road. We’ll be on College Road through October, but when you see us in an area, we’re going to work that area from start to finish and then move on to the next one.”

The project is budgeted to cost $440,600.

Drivers are urged to be cautious of workers and equipment along the road while it is ongoing.

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