Kenai Peninsula Borough Transportation Plan Final Plan
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Kenai Peninsula Borough Transportation Plan Final Plan Prepared for: Kenai Peninsula Borough Prepared by: HDR Alaska, Inc. 2525 C Street, Suite 305 Anchorage, Alaska 99503-2569 December 2003 Transportation Plan Ordinance 2003-40: Suggested revision to Alaska Railroad goals, page 54: Objective 11.2: Delete Action C regarding public crossings. Revise Action D as follows: "Work with the Alaska Railroad to develop a fair and mutually acceptable crossing permit agreement. Biggs, Sherry From: Thompson, Colette Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 6:28 PM To: Murphy, Linda; Biggs, Sherry Subject: Possible amendment language Hi Linda and Sherry: Transportation Plan amendment.... Attached is language for a possible small amendment to the transportation plan, to be approved in ordinance 2003 40. Please do not distribute this as I do not know if anyone will make this amendment - it was just discussed in committee. Thanks. -Colette 1 Kenai Peninsula Borough Transportation Plan Final Plan Prepared for: Kenai Peninsula Borough Prepared by: HDR Alaska, Inc. 2525 C Street, Suite 305 Anchorage, Alaska 99503-2569 In association with: Kittelson & Associates, Inc. 610 SW Alder, Suite 700 Portland, Oregon 97205 December 2003 Kenai Peninsula Borough Transportation Plan Final Plan Table of Contents 1.0 INTF~ODUCTION 1 2.0 ROADS 2 2.1 Ste:te Roads 2 2.2 Cily Roads 3 2.3 Village Roads 3 2.4 Borough Road Service Area 3 2.4.1 Road Maintenance 4 2.4.2 Construction and Improvement of Borough Roads 5 2.4.3 Environmental Standards and Fish Passage 5 2.5 Bri dges 5 2.6 Traffic Regulation 6 2.7 Ccrridor Preservation 6 3.0 TRAFFIC DATA AND MODEL DEVELOPMENT. 10 3.1 Traffic Data 10 3.2 Traffic Demand Model 10 3.0 Problem Segment 13 4.0 Proje,:t in Development 13 4.0 TRAILS 14 5.0 TRA 'JSIT 15 5.1 Public Transit Service 15 5.2 Private Transit Services 16 6.0 POR'fS AND HARBORS 16 6.1 Port and Harbor Authority 18 6.2 Existing Ports and Harbors 18 6.2.1 Anchor River 18 6.2.2 Homer 20 6.2.3 Kenai 21 6.2.4 Nanwalek 22 6.2.5 Nikiski 22 6.2.6 Ninilchik/Deep Creek 22 6.2.7 City of Seldovia and Seldovia Village 23 6.2.8 Seward 24 6.2.9 Kasilof 26 6.2.10 Port Graham 26 6.2.11 West Side of Cook Inlet 27 6.3 Financing for Port and Harbor Improvements 28 6.3.1 State Funding 29 Page i Kenai Peninsula Borough Transportation Plan Final Plan 6.3.2 Federal Funding 29 7.0 FERRY SERVICE 30 7.1 Alaska Marine Highway System 30 7.2 Cook Inlet Ferry 32 8.0 AIRPORTS 33 8.1 Central Peninsula 33 8.2 Southern Peninsula 36 8.3 Eastern Peninsula 37 8.4 Western Borough 37 9.0 THE ALASKA RAILROAD 38 10.0 TRANSPORTATION-RELATED HAZARDS 39 11.0 LONG-TERM TRANSPORTATION VISIONS 39 11.1 Railroad Extension 40 11.2 Turnagain Arm Road Crossing 40 11.3 West Side of Cook Inlet 41 12.0 TRANSPORTATION ISSUES 42 12.1 Roads 42 12.2 Trails 44 12.3 Transit 45 12.4 Ports and Harbors 45 12.5 Airports 46 12.6 Alaska Railroad 47 13.0 TRANSPORTATION PLAN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES 48 13.1 Roads 48 13.2 Roadside/Urban Trails 51 13.3 Transit 52 13.4 Ports and Harbors 52 13.5 Airports 53 13.6 The Alaska Railroad 54 13.7 Transportation Planning 55 Page ii Kenai Peninsula Borough Transportation Plan Final Plan List of Figures On or following page Figure 1: State, Borough and City Bridges 7 Figure 2: Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) 2001 11 Figure 3: Historical Avg. Daily Traffic Sterling Highway 6 Miles East of Soldotna 12 Figure 4: 2002 Avg. Daily Traffic by Month Sterling Highway 6 Miles East of Soldotna. 12 Figure 5: Central Area Rural Transit System (CARTS) Service Area 17 Figure 6: Kenai Peninsula Borough Ports and Harbors Overview 19 Figure 7: AMHS Southcentral Alaska Routes 30 Figure 8: Kenai Peninsula Borough Airports 35 List of Tab1E~s Table 1. QRS II Model Predictions of Problem Road Segments 13 Table 2. AMHS Southcentral Alaska Route: Routes and Running Times 31 Table 3. Comparison of AMHS Southwest Service Visits to Borough Communities 32 Table 4. Principal Public Airports within the Kenai Peninsula Borough 34 List of Appe·ndices Appendix A: State, Borough and City Bridges Appendix B: Traffic Model Development Technical Memoranda Appendix C FAA Airport Master Records Appendix D: DOT&PF Airport Improvement Program Kenai Projects Appendix E: Transportation Related Hazards in Kenai Peninsula Borough Appendix F: DOT&PF Statewide Transportation Improvement Program Kenai Projects Appendix G: Permanent Traffic Recorder Data Displays Appendix H: Central Area Rural Transit Service (CARTS) Ridership Charts Appendix I: RSA Policy Statements 99-01 and 01-04 Page iii Kenai Peninsula Borough Transportation Plan Final Plan 1.0 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this plan is to update the transportation portion of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Comprehensive Plan. The plan was last updated in 1992, and since that time, a number of improvements have been made to transportation facilities and services in the Borough. Similarly, many aspects of the Federal, State, and Borough institutional framework that govern the planning, construction, and maintenance of transportation facilities have changed. This plan provides goals for transportation development and management in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, an overview of existing transportation facilities, and a summary of programs that fund construction and maintenance of transportation facilities. There are also action items that provide an advisory guide of different methods for obtaining the goals and objectives. The action items are neither exclusive to other approaches to meeting the goals and objectives, nor are they mandatory. In addition, this plan includes development of a traffic analysis model for the Borough, as well as an assessment of freight traffic flows on Kenai Peninsula highways. The Kenai Peninsula is accessible by air, land, and water. The Seward, Sterling, and Kenai Spur Highways, and connecting State and local roads, provide highway access to Resurrection Bay, the western coast of the Kenai Peninsula, and a corridor through the central peninsula. Access to the west side of Cook Inlet and southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula is limited to air and water. Three public ports, four small boat harbors, fourteen public airports, and numerous private facilities provide air and water access to communities and development areas within the Borough. The Alaska Railroad provides rail service from Anchorage to Seward. The Alaska Marine Highway System operates ferries between Seward, Horner, Seldovia, Kodiak Island, Prince William Sound, the Alaska Peninsula, and Aleutian communities. Responsibility for construction and maintenance of transportation facilities is divided between the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF), the Kenai Peninsula Borough, the Cities of Kenai, Soldotna, Seward, Horner, Seldovia, Native Village corporations, and the private sector. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) provides most of the funding for transportation construction projects, selected and administered by DOT&PF. The railroad is owned by the State of Alaska and operated by the Alaska Railroad Corporation. Page 1 Kenai Peninsula Borough Transportation Plan Final Plan For additional information on current transportation plans and priorities, readers are directed to DOT&PF (www.dot.state.ak.us). the Borough Public Works Department and Road Maintenance Service Areas (www.borough.kenai.ak.us/Roads/). the Cities of Kenai (www.cLkenaLak.us/), Soldotna (www.ci.soldotna.ak.us), Seward (www.cityofseward.net/), Homer (www.ci.homer.ak.us/), Seldovia (www.xyz.net/-seldovia) and the Alaska Railroad (www.alaskarailroad.com). 2.0 ROADS The following subsections describe State, Borough, City, and village roads and related issues. 2.1 State Roads There are a:::>proximately 650 miles of State maintained roads in the Kenai Peninsula Borough. State roads are constructed and maintained by the DOT&PF. Within the Borough, there are three State highways: the Seward Highway, the Sterling Highway, and the Kenai Spur Highway. A number of secondary State and local roads provide local access along the highway corridor. Construction and maintenance of State roads are funded by the USDOT, Federal Highway Administration through the DOT&PF, Central Region. Capital project funding for transportat.on projects is allocated through a six-year Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) process and through project-specific legislative appropriations. In recent years, the State has obtained approximately 90 percent of its transportat.on capital budget from Federal highway and airport trust funds. During the 2002 legislative session, in addition to the normal 90 percent Federal Highway/ 10 percent State match funding, two new funding sources were tapped. First, the sale of $120 million in State general obligation transportation bonds was approved. These State funds constituted the first large-scale, State-funded road projects in nearly two decades. In addition, for the first time, the State chose to issue GARVEE bonds, which use future Federal transportation funding to payoff the bonds. Approximately $100 million of these bonds werE sold. Historically, the State also granted some funding directly to the Borough for upgrade of State secondary roads. Under the Local Service Roads and Trails program authorized by AS 19.30.111-251 and KPB 14.04, the State funded improvement of these roads within the Borough. :Road projects were limited to those meeting the criteria set forth in the statutes. The construction was completed by private companies under contracts administered by Page 2 Kenai Peninsula Borough Transportation Plan Final Plan the Kenai Peninsula Borough. This program and the road construction powers authorized by this program have not been funded for over a decade.