Roundabout coming to major Fairbanks intersection

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) - Starting at the beginning of May and running through September, the area of Chena Pump Road, Chena Ridge Road and Geist Road will be seeing road work, leading to some traffic delays.

The first section of the project, taking place near the southwest end of Chena Pump Road, involved resurfacing, with pilot cars escorting traffic past a section of closed road.

“We reclaimed that and then we put it down and now there’s a nice, smooth, drivable layer on that. Right now, we’re waiting on getting striping done, and then that segment will be complete,” said Angelica Stabs, Northern Region Public Information Officer with Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT)

On Monday, crews with the DOT were working on segment two of the project, pulling up and repaving the section of Chena Pump Road between Chena Small Tracts Road and Amherst Drive. According to Stabs, work will begin on the intersection between the Mitchell Expressway and Geist Road, including the onramps and offramps to the expressway.

“We are just, you know, smoothing those out, making those nice and pretty, and then we’re also handling those potholes that we often see at that Geist intersection,” she explained.

This segment, Stabs said, will involve closing the ramps for about two weeks, with people going to the Chena Pump area being told to detour down University Avenue and Geist Road.

When this part of the project is complete, Stabs said the area is expected to be less vulnerable to the abundant potholes it sees every spring.

“We hear the public when they say, you know, ‘There’s so many potholes on Geist.’ We’re gonna fix it now,” she said.

Section four will see more resurfacing, this time at a segment of Chena Ridge and Chena Pump Roads between Friar’s Way and Raven Lake Street, which is also expected to involve the use of pilot cars and accompanying traffic delays.

Stabs advised drivers to wait for a pilot car when they see a sign telling them to do so.

“We don’t want to stall the public and where they want to go, but for us to get this work done as quickly and as efficiently as possible, you know, we need the public to follow our traffic control devices,” she said. “We do monitor when lines get very long. And of course, there’s going to be a little bit more stock up when there’s rush hour. We just ask the public to please be patient and know that we’re working to get that line through as quickly as possible.”

Later in the season, crews will also install a roundabout at the intersection of Chena Small Tracts Road and Chena Pump Road.

The resurfacing portion of the project is expected to cost about $9.9 million, while the roundabout project is budgeted at about $5.3 million.

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