WASILLA – An upcoming project will install medians along the middle of the Parks Highway on the west side of Wasilla, blocking most left turns from the center lane and lengthening a stop light turn lane on Palmer-Wasilla Highway Extension heading toward Home Depot, state and city officials said last month.
The update also includes extending a right-turn lane at the Palmer-Wasilla Highway stop light below Home Depot to allow more space for vehicles turning right onto the Parks Highway away from Wasilla, they said.
Officials said the projects are intended to reduce collisions and improve traffic flow near the Parks and Palmer-Wasilla Highway intersection.
The area has been the site of dozens of vehicle accidents since 2018, including at least four that resulted in a fatality or serious injury, according to Matanuska-Susitna Borough accident data. About 38,000 vehicles travel the thoroughfare each day, according to state traffic data.
Work on the $3.5 million project could start this summer but will likely continue into 2027, transportation officials said.
Crews will add a median blocking left turns over about 1.5 miles between the Parks and Palmer-Wasilla Highway intersection and Broadview Avenue, officials said. A pre-existing median near the Palmer-Wasilla Highway intersection will be updated to eliminate a left-hand turn into MATCOM or from the Target shopping area.
The median will include new turn pockets at designated intervals to allow for some left turns across oncoming traffic in certain locations, they said. No new turn signals are planned.
Exactly where those turn areas will be placed will be determined through a traffic analysis, said Chris Bentz, a Department of Transportation project manager.
“We’re going to evaluate during the course of this effort to figure out what we can do to, firstly, reduce the amount of left-turning traffic with the median. But secondly, where will it be prudent to maintain some amount of left turn?” he said.
Known for its mile-long evening rush hour backup, collisions and vehicle standoffs in the center two-way lane as drivers attempt to make offset left turns, the corridor is also the center of rapid business growth. A new 107-room Hilton Home2 Suites hotel is expected to open in the area in 2027, the first national hotel chain to open a new property in the Mat-Su in decades.
That growth means the traffic problems must be addressed now, said Wasilla City Council member Ian Crafton, who proposed a resolution in late 2024 requesting that the state tackle the project.
The changes will ultimately force shoppers to alter how they enter and exit some businesses along the corridor – including Lowe’s, Evangelos, and the Sun Mountain Shopping Center – changes that are likely to cause heartburn among some of the area’s business owners, Crafton said.
“I’m hoping we’re going to minimize the access to these businesses, and really the goal here is safety,” he said. “Sometimes that means road changes we could not foresee. Nobody knew this was going to grow like this.”
Traffic along the area may eventually also be eased by a separate project to extend Herman Road from where it starts near Lowe’s north to connect with the Palmer-Wasilla Highway. Construction on that project is expected to start in 2027, according to a state fact sheet.
How traffic flows along the Sun Mountain frontage road and through the series of three-way stop signs will be addressed in a future project, Bentz said. Those intersections are also the site of regular collisions, according to borough traffic data.
This story originally appeared in the Mat-Su Sentinel and is republished here with permission.
