Gov. Michael Dunleavy has asked the Department of Transportation to postpone the Glenn Highway lighting curfew until additional data can be gathered on the three other highways under lighting curfew (Minnesota Drive, C Street and the Sterling Highway).
[Read: Alaska Life Hack: Glenn Highway gets lighting curfew]
The department will re-evaluate once the additional data is gathered to see if the state can move forward with a lighting curfew, or explore other options, including a future conversion to LED lights.
The curfew had been set for a 34-mile stretch, where lights were going to be out from 1 – 4 am every morning.
Instead, the department will continue to look for ways to save state funding in order to provide a comprehensive snow and ice removal effort throughout southcentral Alaska.
Sen. Shelley Hughes thanked DOT for keeping the roads safe: “The Mat-Su delegation is pleased to hear from the Governor that he and the Commissioner of the Department of Transportation have decided to keep the Glenn Highway lights on between 1am and 4am this winter to improve the safety of this 34-mile stretch. DOT will be working to find cost savings elsewhere – on items that don’t impact safety. We look forward to continued partnership with the administration and the department to keep Alaska’s roads safe during this winter season. We appreciate all the DOT employees who work hard every day on behalf of Alaskans. Drive safely, everyone!”
I know it is unusual and probably very unsafe but down here in Homer, I drive home with just my headlights all the time. Get a grip people.
Come on Walter! The traffic volume on the Glenn between Anchorage and Palmer/Wasilla is vastly larger than between Soldotna and Homer by orders of magnitude, even at 3:00 AM.
The Glenn Highway light curfew debacle is just a symptom of a bloated department that was formed during the oil boom and fundamentally changed very little since then. In these days of tighter budgets, the DOT is a dinosaur with almost no accountability to the people. It needs to be broken up.
Notice the highway in Juneau is not on the list…? Why is that…?
Because Juneau does not have a, “highway”, Herman. Egan Drive is what you might be referring to?
This is yet another example of people clamoring to cut government spending until the cuts impact them. I’ve driven the Glenn since 1970 when there were few lights anywhere. Like other commenters have said, “get a grip people”! Either you want to reduce spending or you don’t. Driving slower is an easy solution to this issue. I know from current experience that most drivers are going 10-15 mph over speed limit now.
There are ways to cut spending that don’t impact safety. The volume of traffic on the Glenn Highway now entails thousands of people driving to and from Anchorage at various times of the day and night. Driving slower is not the solution. The moose and other animals don’t care how slow or fast you are driving when they want to step out into the highway. The biggest deterrent to prevent these accidents is the driver’s ability to actually see them coming, i.e. because there is lighting on the road.
The only thing those lights do, is eat electricity.
Why do we have headlights on the cars?
Why do we have to erase the night sky in its entirety?
Geez.
People need to look when they drive, to both sides of the road beyond the pavement . . . not just lock onto the tailights in front.
Grow up.
I hate those lights.
It used to be sooooo beautiful to roll across the Hay Flats late at night in the winter and see the awesome display of God’s Creation.
Now, we see nothing.
And, with each moron who has to have a yard light, we lose more sky.
Shut them off, this is not CONUS, where people are afraid of the night sky.
If Dunleavy won’t turn off the lights, how about setting the speed limit at the 85th Percentile and end 40 miles of speed trap?
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