Glen-Bragaw project relieves traffic woes: interchange will move a projected 50,000 vehicles per day.

• Author: West, Gail
• Position: BUILDING ALASKA

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Picture this: It's 5:15 p.m. on a work day in 2007 and you're driving own Fifth Avenue on your way home to the Mat-Su. You're nearing the intersection of Bragaw Street and the Glenn Highway, and traffic stalls to a complete standstill. You've been there, right? You know the frustration. Clap your hands, commuters, it's now November 2008 and that frustration is over.

Once an intersection, it now has become an interchange, moving traffic freely east toward Muldoon and north toward the Matanuska and Susitna valleys. Pedestrians, particularly children on their way to the new Clark Middle School, also will be able to move freely through the intersection. Shoppers can reach Northway Mall or the Red Apple grocery store on foot without fear of being crunched beneath a driver's wheels.

Identified in Anchorage's most-recent long-range transportation plan as a high priority, the Glenn-Bragaw interchange sees some 50,000 vehicles every day, and traffic is anticipated to double over the next 20 years.

"Our goal is to improve the level of service for the drivers, improve pedestrian access and create an aesthetically pleasing gateway to Anchorage," said Scan Holland, project manager for the State of Maska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF). "We're building an overpass over the Glenn. Bragaw will go over the top."

The entire interchange was a State-funded, design-build project, Holland said, and was completed very quickly--from concept to completion in about three years.

Holland added that DOT&PF, by using State funds, was able to "run a few activities in parallel" with work on the interchange. This allowed DOT&PF to deliver the project at least 18 months earlier than would have been possible had the project been federally funded.

DESIGN FEATURES ARTWORK

The design-build team consisted of Wilder Construction Co., headquartered in Everett, Wash., with a branch office in Anchorage, and DOWL Engineers of Anchorage.

"Wilder and DOWL teamed up to submit a proposal, and we were selected," said Steve Noble, project manager for DOWL. "The selection was based on technical merit and dollar value for the grade-separated crossing of the Glenn Highway. From there, we worked with the State to develop the final project."

Noble said that Wilder is the lead on the interchange and DOWL is the prime subcontractor. Other subs on the project include PND Engineers Inc. of Anchorage for structural engineering work. Another...