Thursday morning in Anchorage Federal highway authorities and Alaska’s Department of Transportation finalized the agreement that will lay the groundwork for a highway bypassing Cooper Landing and critical habitat along a stretch of the Upper Kenai River.
Federal Highways signed the record of decision (ROD) on the Sterling Highway 45-60 reroute selecting Juneau Creek as the preferred alternative, thus putting an end to the longest-running Environmental Impact Statement in the country.
That signing triggers negotiations on a land exchange between Cook Inlet Regional Corporation (CIRI) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to complete the bypass.
The project will ultimately develop a several mile highway looping away from and above Cooper Landing and the Kenai, providing a faster and straighter route to most of the Peninsula.
The narrow winding road through Cook Inlet has been the scene of many serious auto collisions over the several decades the project has been under discussion.
The bypass will remove traffic congestion from the Cooper Landing businesses and lodges along the current highway, and will speed and simplify travel for hundreds of thousand travelers headed down the Peninsula to Soldotna, Kenai, Homer and other communities.
It will also reduce the risk of a catastrophic ecological disaster if a traffic accident resulted in a fuel or hazardous waste spill directly into the priceless Upper Kenai River, potentially threatening one of the most valuable fisheries in the world.
