Taking summer visitors down Santa Claus Lane will be a bit more challenging this summer, as five road construction and improvement projects are planned for the North Pole area in the upcoming building season.
Once work is completed, drivers will enjoy new interchanges, smoother roads, and will have to maneuver three new roundabouts along the infamous road to get to the Santa Claus House and the North Pole shopping district.
They will be the Interior's first string of roundabouts — the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus has only one circle to navigate. The roundabouts, three in a row, will be similar to those on Dowling Road in Anchorage, but will be single lanes, compared to Dowling's double lanes.
A request for proposals was issued in late December and is expected to be awarded early next month. The project will cost an estimated $2.5 million to $5 million. Work is scheduled for completion in September, just in time for the Christmas rush.
The project includes reconstructing exit and entrance ramps on the Richardson Highway interchange, at mile 349, in North Pole and adjacent sections of Badger Road and Santa Claus Lane. Work includes grading, drainage, paving, lighting and the roundabouts.
North Pole, population 1,600, is located 14 miles southeast of Fairbanks on the Richardson Highway. Residents will have to navigate the circles to get to the community's main shopping area, which houses Safeway, Blockbuster and McDonalds, among other core retail businesses.
“We're getting a normal reaction,” said Colleen Ackiss, project manager at DOT. “Some are pleased to see them come, others are adamant that this is the worst thing we could do up there.”
The largest project planned, at an estimated $20 million to $30 million, is to construct an interchange and connecting frontage roads at the Richardson Highway and Dawson Road near North Pole.
DOT officials expect to advertise the job in February, and award a contract in early spring. Work will take two years.
This major project includes building an interchange on the Richardson so it will cross over Dawson Road. New right lanes will be added at the cross-street intersections and nearby roads will be extended. Crews will also build a noise barrier on the north side of Mistletoe Drive near the Enterprise Park subdivision.
The Richardson Highway, from mile 348 to 357, will see repaving and other improvements, including guardrail and culvert replacements, and new signage. The contract award was $4.8 million.
Bypass lanes to provide for vehicles that are required to stop at railroad crossings is to be added at the Peridot Street railroad crossing, at the Richardson Highway, in a $1.2 million project.
Three subdivisions will have new lighting installed, under a $760,000 contract award.
Ackiss, the project manager for four of the projects, said DOT officials and contractors are working to keep traffic flowing smoothly through the town, but residents and visitors can expect some delays.
Melissa Campbell can be reached at melissa.campbell@alaskajournal.com.
