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DOT plans to install another pedestrian barrier, this time on Anchorage’s Fifth Avenue
The state transportation department plans to install a median barrier, meant to discourage pedestrians from crossing mid-block, along a portion of Fifth Avenue near downtown Anchorage.
Critics say the project favors high-speed traffic rather than Anchorage residents on foot. Traffic engineers believe the design will help reduce pedestrian fatalities on what is known as a dangerous stretch of roadway.
In 2023, residents in the Spenard neighborhood protested the installation of a similar median barrier on Minnesota Drive. The section of fencing became locally known as the “cheese grater” due to its perforated metal appearance. It’s possible the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities will construct another as soon as next year along Fifth Avenue for a half-mile stretch between Concrete and Karluk streets.
The Highway Safety Improvement Program, designed to reduce and prevent severe crashes and pedestrian fatalities, will fund the project. In its final design phase, the median barrier is projected to cost between $3 million and $4 million, according to DOT.
The project area covers a divided segment of road — three lanes each — where the Glenn Highway funnels high-speed traffic into and out of downtown Anchorage. The proposed median barrier would separate the Anchorage Correctional Complex to the north and the Merrill Field Airport to the south, near the “Welcome to Anchorage” sign. To the east, there is a small pocket of hotels, and the municipally operated homeless shelter, Linda’s Place.
Three crosswalks exist here: one on Concrete Street and two where the highway splits at Karluk Street. Because the crosswalks are roughly half a mile apart, some pedestrians choose to dart across the highway mid-block.
During a site visit Friday, Project Manager Noah King pointed to footprints in the snowy median showing where pedestrians had recently traversed Fifth Avenue without a crosswalk. This is an area where drivers begin to drop from highway speeds down to 35 mph. While some drivers slow down, others seem to carry the momentum into town, he said.
DOT ranks Fifth Avenue as one of the “top pedestrian fatality corridors” in Alaska. Of the 81 accidents recorded by the transportation department during a 2013-2016 study period, pedestrian and bicycle crashes made up the majority of serious of fatal crashes. Between the Circle K gas station and Concrete Street, three people were killed and another was seriously injured crossing mid-block, King said.
Unlike when the Minnesota Drive barrier was installed, greater public feedback is being sought for the Fifth Avenue barrier. Project managers plan to collect feedback at an open house Wednesday.
Still, some local elected officials — including Daniel Volland, who represents North Anchorage on the Anchorage Assembly — say they are tired of seeing projects that are “car centric rather than people centric” in the city.
“This type of intervention is actually hostile. … It doesn’t do anything to enhance pedestrian connectivity,” Volland said.
It’s likely the median barrier will look similar to the one on Minnesota Drive, a roughly 6-foot-tall metal fence atop a raised concrete median. Engineers are considering slight variations in the type of “crash-tested” fencing used, a tall, pure concrete wall and the possible inclusion of patterns to “improve aesthetics,” according to sketches.
“We tried to find all the available options that can make this look a little bit better, but still be effective,” King said. “It’s supposed to deter people from being there.”
The design, studied by engineers in Maryland and Texas, has been shown to reduce pedestrian fatalities mid-block by 86%, King said. He said height restrictions, due to the project’s proximity to Merrill Field Airport, limit the department’s ability to add another traffic light and signalized crosswalk in the area.
Minnesota Drive ‘cheese grater’ response
The installation of the Minnesota Drive barrier “baffled” the residents in the adjacent Spenard and Turnagain neighborhoods, said Lindsey Hajduk, an active member of the Spenard Community Council. The department failed to do public outreach and neighbors “didn’t know what it was until it was there,” she said.
Hajduk called the barrier “frustrating,” as it was constructed with funds that she said should make it “more convenient and comfortable to walk, rather than more challenging.”
Instead of waiting at any of the three separate signalized crosswalks designated to make it to the other side of the road, some people cross mid-block at the edge of the fencing, she said. The fencing also sits on a raised median that is wide enough to walk on and around in the middle of traffic.
“The adjacent intersections are still super dangerous, and the barrier does nothing to make that safer,” she said.
The proposed Fifth Avenue barrier would cut “yet another” neighborhood in half, said Assembly Vice Chair Anna Brawley. She represents the Turnagain and Spenard areas. She said the project represents a disconnect between transportation and land use policies in Anchorage.
“They’re basically contrary to all of our land use plans, which talk about making these commercial areas more walkable and easier for folks to not have to get in the car to go from A to B,” she said.
DOT will host an open house on the Fifth Avenue Pedestrian Safety Project at the Seed Lab, 111 W. Sixth Ave., from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 25.