The Mat-Su Borough has applied for an administrative permit to extract gravel from a Borough-owned site located near mile 128 on the Parks Highway.
According to Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Communications Director Shannon McCarthy, the project will support the State’s effort to replace several aging culverts and to build a new bridge over Railroad Creek.
The projects are included in the State’s STIP, or transportation improvement program. These first culverts are priority and slated for completion this summer.
The proposed gravel site is located adjacent to a State-owned gravel pit, but the State’s site does not have enough gravel to support the culvert project. Borough Natural Resource Manager Emerson Krueger says these permits are usually issued for projects with limited timelines or a limit on the amount of material that can be extracted.
Though there are other extraction sites nearby, Krueger says there are restrictions on those parcels.
“As far as materials sources go, there is that gravel pit at [Parks Highway milepost] 131. And the State created that gravel pit when they built the highway. And when the Borough took ownership of it, it got wrapped up in a Natural Resource Management Unit and the guidelines in the Natural Resource Management Unit Plan prohibit material extraction at that location. So I’m not allowed to sell gravel from milepost 131.”
The proposed gravel extraction site is also near the Chulitna Bluff Winter Trail which crosses the State gravel pit then onto Borough land. The trail runs along the western side of this project. However, trail activity is not expected to be impacted because gravel extraction was specifically shifted to the eastern side of the pit to accommodate the trail.
“And we have plenty of room and gravel so we pushed the gravel extraction east of the trail on the Borough land.”
Krueger says the only other trail he is aware of is a short-term authorization to access the river by a rafting company, but that access is no longer authorized.
He says the Borough reached out to neighboring landowners and also notified the Trapper Creek Community Council of the project. The Borough is accepting public comments through May 2. A public hearing is scheduled for May 15.
