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| 287 |
The
University Area Community Council (UACC) has concerns that the Bragaw/Abbott
Loop Extension will impact existing negative air quality in the broad
area south of East 40th Avenue near Providence hospital. During the mid-1990s
UACC formed an Ad-Hoc Air Quality committee to research complaints from
residents living immediately north of Tudor Road between Lake Otis and
Checkmate Drive of diesel fumes in their neighborhoods and living spaces.
The fumes were intense during cold weather. Our investigation focused
on the Anchorage School District Transportation Facility at Tudor/Bragaw
where buses were being started at 4:30A, with these engines running until
the first buses left the facility at 5:45A. Despite changes in the warm-up
policy by ASD, fumes continued to be a problem, and still are to this
day. Tudor Road's increased congestion at traffic signals has contributed.
CO testing was done in the nearby East 42nd Avenue neighborhood in 1996,
finding outdoor air to be worse than the indoor air that set off alarms.
We presented the following background to the ASD School Board during a
budget hearing in 1996, asking that ASD consider moving the transportation
facility off the site: "Much of the University-Medical District area
is a low lying basin at the foot of the Chugach Mountains. The mountains
cause a settling of dust and fumes during cold, clear days, trapping these
pollutants by air inversions. The topography of the area reveals that
the people complaining the loudest reside at the lowest elevations. The
area is in line to receive pollution from gravity flow and from any wind.
The people live downwind and downslope. Topographically (according to
USGS map #A-8 NW & NE, 1979, rev. 1997), in the two miles between
Patterson Street, near the Muldoon/Tudor Road curve, and Dale Street,
located a few blocks west of the ASD Transportation Facility, there is
an elevation drop from 325 feet to 167 feet. Here, in front of the Chugach
Mountains, is the coldest area in town. Air flows down the mountains like
the water in the Campbell Creek valley flows downhill. Both are channeled
by the drumlins that dot the hillside down to Alaska Pacific University.
Air and water spread out onto a lowland of greatly altered terrain. Former
glacier features have been replaced by apartments, institutions and parking
lots. Creeks and lakes occupy newly constructed beds." Since the
late 1990s, further information about particulates has been learned -
that disturbed road dust contains significant amounts of minute vehicle
tire particles, road sanding debris and diesel particulates. Currently,
the Tudor Road/Dale Street air quality monitor on the Allstate building
roof tests for PM-10 only. We understand a PM 2.5 monitor would be needed
to capture some of this minute matter that causes respiratory problems
in many people. Our concern is about the increase in ambient particulate
matter, fuel chemicals, and the effect they have on the health of the
thousands who live and work in this U-Med area. Some particles are so
tiny they go into the bloodstream after inhalation. The expected rise
in vehicles traveling the Bragaw corridor from Dowling to Tudor will increase
contaminants inhaled by all. We are not opposed to construction of roads
which will improve traffic flow under normal circumstances, however we
request the following receive your attention:o Bragaw/Abbott Loop project
incorporate current air quality data during the decision process.o Anchorage
School District's Transportation Facility be removed from its current
site. o Municipality policy that would consider imposing restrictions
when temperature inversions endanger human health along this transportation
corridor. o The Extension be delayed until the Dowling/Boniface connection
is underway.Attached is a recent NIAID/NIH news release with information
pertinent to this issue.Article:Scientists Identify Genes That Regulate
Allergic Response to Diesel FumesThe risk of developing respiratory allergies
from exposure to diesel emissions depends largely on genetics, according
to a study funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Given
their findings, researchers estimate that up to 50 percent of the United
States population could be in jeopardy of experiencing health problems
related to air pollution. The study is published in the Jan. 10 issue
of the British journal The Lancet."This important study adds to previous
data that suggest how modern environmental factors interact with the body's
defenses to produce 'airway' diseases considered rare before the advent
of industrialized society," says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director
of NIAID."The knowledge provided by this work will help us identify
people who are susceptible to the deleterious effects of diesel emissions
on the clinical course of asthma and hay fever," says Kenneth Adams,
Ph.D., who oversees asthma research funded by NIAID. "It will also
help accelerate development of drugs to treat and prevent these diseases."This
study also received support from the National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences, another NIH component.The authors of the study examined
how a family of antioxidant-related genes-GSTM1, GSTT1 and GSTP1-reacts
to diesel exhaust particles, a common air pollutant. The body generates
antioxidants to detoxify harmful particles and limit the corresponding
allergic reaction.Researchers sampled the DNA of volunteers who are allergic
to ragweed to find which forms of the genes they had. The participants
were then given doses of ragweed through the nose, followed by either
a placebo or quantities of diesel exhaust particles equivalent to breathing
the air in Los Angeles, CA, for 40 hours.The mix of ragweed and diesel
exhaust triggered greater allergic responses than ragweed alone. Additionally,
the diesel particles caused volunteers who lacked the antioxidant-producing
form of the GSTM1 gene to have significantly greater allergic responses,
compared to the other participants. Up to 50 percent of the U.S. population
does not have this form of the GSTM1 gene. Within the group that lacked
GSTM1, those who had a particular variant of the GSTP1 gene experienced
even greater allergic reactions. Researchers estimate that 15 to 20 percent
of the U.S. population falls into this category."Diesel emissions
can trigger allergic symptoms, but the genetic factors involved in the
process are quite complex," says David Diaz-Sanchez, Ph.D., assistant
professor in the Division of Immunology and Allergy at the University
of California Los Angeles, who co-authored the study with scientists from
the University of Southern California. "Our findings suggest that
people who lack the genes to make key antioxidants may have difficulty
fighting the harmful effects of air pollution."Dr. Diaz-Sanchez says
that he and the other researchers will work to find other genes involved
in pollution-related health problems such as asthma, lung cancer and heart
disease, with the goal of discovering possible treatments and preventions.
"We are focused on investigating ways we can overcome this genetic
deficiency," he says. "This may be accomplished by either giving
people drugs that replace the role of the genes or by boosting the body's
natural defenses."NIAID is a component of the National Institutes
of Health (NIH), which is an agency of the Department of Health and Human
Services. NIAID supports basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose
and treat infectious and immune-mediated illnesses, including HIV/AIDS
and other sexually transmitted diseases, illness from potential agents
of bioterrorism, tuberculosis, malaria, autoimmune disorders, asthma and
allergies. |
| 288 |
Havind
lived in Alaska since the mid seventees I've watched the town grow from
a small city into a quality city with amenities typical of much larger
cities. Havind said this I am still disturbed at the ongoing poor planning
which continues to be displayed by our elected officials when it comes
to transportation and planning. 15th avenue is one of the few projects
completed which shows promise however once again our planners flow the
traffic into a funnel at the intersection of the main highway into downtown
and display genuine surprise that there is an impact to the quality of
traveling around this town. Lake Otis and Tudor has been a problem since
the inception of Tudor road. Some of you may recall the bumper stickers
I survived Tudor Road which were popular in the mid seventees when Tudor
road was a rutted out project. So here we are a quarter of a century later
Lake Otis travels from 15th to Huffman and we still have the funnel at
Tudor. So we take out our little box of bandaids and come up with extending
Bragaw at an astronomical cost and impact to our parklands and we dead
end this into Abbott Road. What a wonderful plan now where do we go? Guess
now we turn right and go back to Lake Otis to complete our trip South.
Let's do this right for once. Let's not create another project 80's with
cost overruns and poor planning. Where is the overpass for Lake Otis and
Tudor. Where are our expressways that will actually move you to the destination
you intended to get to without a scenic traverse through neighborhoods
with multiple stop lights? This project reminds me of the Rocket Scientist
who designed C street. What a wonderfull way to end the street smack into
the transportation building. What a great idea to build the building right
where the extension of C street should be. Guess it wasn't a big deal
since it was just taxpayers money that paid for the building and that
will pay to tear it back down when we finally get smart and finish this
road and then will we cut corners again and just leave a stop light to
control a major traffic artery at Minnesota Bypass? Can we at least send
our great engineers pictures of what overpasses look like? Let's quit
waisting our money on the bandaid approach. Leave Bragaw alone. There
is a University or two right at the end of Bragaw that breaks this in
half but then again that's just education and the kids will learn just
as well with an additional 100 decibels of noise going by the classroom
when the expressway is completed to nowhere. Let's look at the real solution
OVERPASS at Lake Otis.... Now if we still need relief after this then
lets look at the other possible solutions. However let's fix the real
problem first and then we can take a long hard look at what the city really
needs and then lets do something a little bit different let's actually
do something right the first time. You know if I trusted that we were
capable of doing things right the first time I might actually feel that
my tax dollars where paying a real divident. |
| 289 |
I
have not heard any info about using tunnels for portions of the roadway.
No idea of the cost but seems tunnel would be much less expensive than
spanning the creeks with the lengthy bridges that have been discussed.
Cost aside using a tunnel would have many other benefits: wildlife corridor
noise abatement habitat preservation and the list goes on I'm sure. Think
outside the box... |
| 290 |
We
NEED this road badly and a lot more. We are 10 to 15 years behind in road
construction and we should get on with it. Dowling Rd. needs to connect
to the extension and Abbott Loop should also be extended to Rabbit Creek
Rd. Do not let these NIMBY people derail or jack of the cost such that
it does not get build. Thanks. |
| 291 |
The
abbott loop extension and the community park projects are needed but will
have an adverse affect on the community unless some provisions are made.
The increased traffic will create an unacceptable noise level. I propose
you construct a sound barrier wall which will serve as a buffer to reduce
the noise levels. In addition i recommend we add trails and bike paths
to accomodate the additional pedestran taffic. In my opinon these options
will help the residents and enhance the appearance of our neighborhood. |
| 292 |
i
agree that there needs to be more access to the hillside area....i just
don't think extending bragaw to abbott is the only option....any extension
is going to impact the park lands but the impact to neighborhoods and
residential areas can be minimized by extending muldoon to abbott...this
would also enable traffic from the highway south to totally circumvent
anchorage and access the glenn highway without going through downtown
anchorage. |
| 293 |
What
a tiring subject. Lake Otis continues to be a bottle neck why of course
we don't want to upset the church on he hill or the gas stations and we
put another funnel on Bragaw and Abbot Loop at the expense of the park.
What a wonderfull idea however where will the traffic end up once it hits
Abbott? Extend this to O'Malley and then onto Huffman and eventually right
back to Lake Otis. Now of course we still have the traffic jam at Tudor
and Lake Otis but then again do we really want to upset the politically
connected? I have been here since the seventies and have watched the Good
Old Boys build their little projects at the expense of the ordinary folks
and here we are again. Guess I can be very thankful for the one visionary
politician in ALaska Jay Hammond. The only Governor who actually thought
about our kids and their future. Sad that we can not find someone else
to fill those big shoes. |
| 294 |
Every
consideration should be designed into this trail which provides the trail
user with the safest most direct user friendly and asthetically pleasing
traverse of this trail as is humanly possible. Thank you. |
| 295 |
I
believe the Abbott Loop/Bragaw extension is going to be another incomplete
project. Stopping the project at Abbott Rd. is only moving the traffic
problem. It will be a disaster at the Abbott/Abbott Loop intersection.
It needs to be completed with all the pieces of Bragaw connecting including
the last small section between Abbott Rd. and O'Malley. |
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