The Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board is recommending approval of the proposed reconstruction of the Alaska Highway between Hillcrest and the airport.

The board sent its recommendation to the Yukon government on Friday.

The proposal by the Department of Highways and Public Works in its current form has drawn substantial criticism from residents of Hillcrest and others.

Going forward with a significant widening of the highway would only create a more dangerous situation for pedestrians and cyclists crossing the highway regardless of the new traffic lights proposed, many have argued.

Many have argued the project should include bike paths separated from the highway as well as an underpass that would provide for a safe crossing by pedestrians and cyclists.

“From a design perspective, there is no need to expand this entire section of highway to four lanes of traffic,” reads the submission to the assessment board by the Hillcrest Community Association.

“By keeping specific sections of the highway to two lanes, there would be an opportunity to build a pedestrian underpass because the highway would remain narrow where required.

“Let’s work on a highway design that improves safety for all users by maintaining fewer and narrower lanes to encourage slower driving.”

The Yukon government has so far rejected the notion of an underpass, citing engineering challenges and the additional cost.

The proposal reviewed by the assessment board involves reconstructing 1.5 kilometres of the highway from just south of Lodestar Lane that leads to the Air North and Alkan Air hangars to just north of the Burns Road intersection.

It calls for establishing traffic lights at the Hillcrest Drive and Burns Road intersections.

The project would require removing the front section of the Airport Chalet, as it is currently in the highway right-of-way.

Work is scheduled to begin this spring with phase one, continue next year with phase two and wrap up in 2022 with phase three. The total budget estimated for the three phases is $12 million.

“Overall, the project includes the addition of lanes for both north- and south-bound traffic, and designated turning lanes,” says the proposal.

“Presently, the highway is currently two lanes (measuring about 11.7 metres wide), increasing to 16.4 m at intersections.

“The proposed four-laning will increase the width of the highway to 20.8 m, increasing to 35.2 m at the two new signalized intersections.”

Phase one will see reconstruction this summer of the section from Lodestar to Hillcrest Drive.

Phase two involves reconstruction from Hillcrest Drive to Burns Road and phase three would see reconstruction from Burns Road to the new traffic light at Range Road.

The project would see, for instance, the closure of the highway access off of Roundel Road, with drivers having to use a side road to gain access at either of the two new intersections.

Many of the opposing submissions noted that pedestrians and cyclists are not comfortable crossing the highway now.

Increasing the width of the intersections even with signalized traffic lights and pedestrian crosswalks would only add to people’s apprehension about crossing the highway, particularly in the winter.

The project should encourage more traffic by pedestrians and cyclists interested in using active transportation to get to and from work or school, say many of the 63 submissions to the assessment board.

They argue the project should not be a deterrent to more active transportation, though it is in its current design.

“Disappointingly, HPW’s highway design is based on technical reviews that focused solely on the needs of drivers and failed to consider the needs of pedestrians or cyclists, says the submission by the community association.

“Let’s create a highway design that considers the safety of all users of this transportation corridor.”

One Hillcrest woman writes in her submission to the assessment board that over the past five years, she has noticed an increase in both bikers and walkers using the airport trail to get downtown, which helps with climate change and keeps people healthy and active.

“However, there is this huge issue on my daily commute and for my fellow walkers and bikers as well, which is crossing the highway – rather like an unwanted game of Russian roulette,” reads the submission.

“As a daily user of the highway, I have noticed that since the completion of highway section between top of the Two Mile Hill and Hillcrest, the speed of the traffic has increased substantially.

“I can only see this speeding issue becoming worse in the airport section if this ‘mega speedway’ is constructed.”

As part of its overall recommendation to the government for approval of the project, the assessment board has included several recommendations for steps the government should take to monitor and increase safety upon completion of the project.

It should, for instance, develop a program to monitor vehicle speed through the project area as well as develop a program to monitor the usage of intersections by vulnerable road users.