FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) – A couple new features have popped up on highways around town, with Alaska Department of Transportation (AKDOT) workers recently installing two dynamic messaging signs onto their 20-foot-tall posts in the Fairbanks area.
Crews from AKDOT sent up the first of two signs near Mile 357 of the Parks Highway Monday, briefly blocking off the left lanes on either side of the road while it was being mounted.
The second rose close to Mile 358 of the Richardson on Tuesday, near the exit for South Gate Road.
The signs cost about $1.4 million apiece. Backing their construction are federal funds via grants from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that go through local Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) FAST (Fairbanks Area Surface Transportation) Planning.
“EPA is … trying to take a multi-pronged approach to improve air quality, and transportation improvements, though small, are part of that,” said John Perreault, information officer for AKDOT’s Northern Region.
The pot of money is reserved specifically for transportation upgrades that aim to limit traffic problems in areas that don’t meet federal air quality standards for fine particulate matter (PM2.5); urbanized parts of the North Star Borough are one such area.
According to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s 2022 report, three of the four testing sites in the borough with adequate data are still above the EPA’s PM2.5 threshold.
Perreault said this project addresses precisely that issue.
“Primarily, improving air quality comes through congestion mitigation in which, from our command center at DOT, we can send messages to them [the signs] in real time, helping people make good decisions about whether to commute, not commute, whether there’s congestion ahead,” Perreault described.
The logic behind the project is backed up by available research. A 2006 study has shown that such signs can significantly decrease travel delays related to road incidents, while others have confirmed PM2.5 is one of the major pollutants from traffic emissions.
In other words, the signs have been proven to decrease the time cars spend on the road, and less traffic means less PM2.5.
Two additional 2023 AKDOT efforts received funding from the same source, known as the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement Program, which has the goal of helping state and local governments meet requirements of the Clean Air Act.
One of those additional projects constructed electric vehicle plug ins at public parking lots within the borough; the other will see timing improvements to traffic signals in the Fairbanks area, according to Perreault.
With the signs opening another avenue for public communication, they will also be able to serve purposes not directly related to traffic, like disseminating certain safety alerts.
“We’ll receive messages from the Troopers, so if there’s ever Amber Alerts or Silver Alerts, we’ll be able to display those right away, as well,” Perreault added.
While the signs are already taking on a finished look, AKDOT crews still need to connect them to the grid and to command modules before they are considered operational.
Department officials expect the completion date will come around some time this December.
Copyright 2023 KTVF. All rights reserved.