Right now, condition reports about Alaska’s state-owned sidewalks, bike paths and boardwalks are entirely anecdotal.
And that makes Julius Adolfsson’s job difficult. He’s an active transportation planner with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
“Right now, it’s up to our, you know, M and O crew, maybe, to point out, ‘Hey, that sidewalk there, or that side path over there, it’s not looking great – we have root damage, or we have heaving caused by, you know, frost issues and so on,’” he said.
Adolfsson wants the department to move to a more comprehensive, data-driven approach. More accurate and timely status reports about existing pedestrian and bike infrastructure, he said, will improve maintenance scheduling and planning for future projects.
He’s working on a federal grant application to start a “data bike” program that he hopes will eventually go statewide.
The idea is to get some e-bikes kitted out with cameras and special smartphone software that captures how rough a path is, among other data. Imagine a Google StreetView car, but slimmed down as an e-bike, and you kind of get the picture.
The tech isn’t exotic. In Idaho, Boise’s metropolitan transportation planning organization has had a data bike program since 2021. Tori Cale is that organization’s bike and pedestrian technician who’s been riding the data bike. She said an initial grant of about $6,000 paid for the organization’s bike.
On Thursday, the policy committee of Anchorage’s metropolitan transportation planning organization voted to support DOT’s grant application.
Adolfsson said it’s a scalable, efficient and sustainable solution, particularly given Alaska’s many rural communities.
“You don’t have to ship an entire car,” he said. “You can, you know, check your bike and check your equipment and maybe get on a flight, even. So you don’t have to barge any car up to some of our rural communities.”
There’s no operation plan yet, but he said some other governments with data bike programs get volunteers to be riders through local cycling clubs.
Adolfsson expects to hear in about six months whether Alaska will get the federal grant for the pilot. He said the department will likely ask for $100,000 to $200,000, though that isn’t final yet.
If the grant comes through, he thinks an Alaska data bike pilot could launch in about a year, with a statewide rollout six months after that.
Jeremy Hsieh covers Anchorage with an emphasis on housing, homelessness, infrastructure and development. Reach him at jhsieh@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8428. Read more about Jeremy here.
