Anchorage Assembly plans $10M bond proposal for improving Chugach State Park access

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Some Anchorage Assembly members want to see improvements to roads leading to Chugach State Park to provide better access to areas of the park. There’s already a preliminary list of projects included in what is being considered the municipality’s first Chugach State Park access service area bond package.

The ordinance submitting the bond will be introduced at the upcoming Anchorage Assembly meeting on Oct. 10, when a public hearing will also be held.

Anchorage Assembly member Randy Sulte says making some of the dirt roads into paved roads will reduce immediate maintenance costs while also providing safer and easier access to the parks.

“Chugach State Park is just one of the great assets that the municipality has, I mean we’re one of the few cities that has spectacular mountains and hiking trails right off our doorstep,” Sulte said. “It’s already accessed by a lot of our citizens and what we’re trying to do is just make it easier, safer and just expand it to our tourists to come visit.”

According to a spokesperson with the Department of Natural Resources, Chugach State Park is one of the nation’s largest state parks with 495,000 acres of playground right in Anchorage’s backyard.

The Chugach State Park Service Area was initially created by former Assembly Chair Suzanne LaFrance and approved by voters in April’s municipal election. Now Assembly members Sulte, Zac Johnson, and Karen Bronga are carrying the torch for the project.

According to Sulte, the initial round of funding would go towards projects mainly for limited road service areas that are often taken care of by a small number of residents. Sulte believes those citizens have an unfair burden with having to take care of roads that are driven on by hundreds of cars a day.

“The initial round is going to fund projects like road maintenance, road repairs to Upper DeArmoun and paving Canyon Road up to the backside of Flattop, Campbell Creek Road, Honey Bear, Black Bear, Snow Bear, Kings Way,” Sulte said.

The current bond amount is not to exceed $10 million and is expected to be used in phases. Still, not everyone is on board with the large amount going into the possible improvements.

“So far, we’re seeing a lot of support of the parks, again, they’re so well used, they’re so visible,” Sulte said. “The one pushback is the amount, but again, just because we authorize a $10 million bond, doesn’t mean we issue it all at once. Some of the projects will be phased with design and study, later plans, and then finally the execution.”

One of the tricky parts of the improvements is the municipality can not spend money within Chugach State Park without a lease or agreement. In this case, if the $10 million bond proposal was approved, the park would have to mirror the projects on the other side of the park boundary.

Ideally, the bond package for improvements at Chugach State Park would be voted on in April during the election.

The full list of proposed projects can be found in AO-2023-59.

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