Planning is underway for the reconstruction of Haugen Drive in Petersburg, along with an extension of the bike path from Petersburg’s airport.
The state Department of Transportation plans to use $3.5 million in federal funding to resurface the roadway and sidewalks.
“We’re going to be doing a pavement and sidewalk rehabilitation on Haugen Drive, basically from Nordic Drive all the way to Eighth Street,” said Keith Karpstein project manager with the DOT. “We’re also going to be doing a pavement rehab from the airport to Sandy Beach road. The project also includes a sidewalk extension from Eighth Street all the way to Twelfth street on the north side of the road and also a sidewalk extension on the south side of the road from Eighth Street to connect to the existing path on the south side of the road.”
Also planned is a multi-use biking and walking path from the airport to Sandy Beach. It’s an extension of the existing walkway that follows the road up to the airport. Karpstein says the new section of the planned path mostly follows the existing roadway. “There is a portion that’s going to be offset from the road quite a bit,” he said. “It’ll be a couple hundred feet north of the road directly across from the airport terminal. The reason for that is we’re trying to follow the alignment of the future Haugen Drive which is the ultimate airport plan is going to push Haugen Drive out aways and then reconstruct the airport parking area, etc., etc. So what we’re trying to do is put that path in a location that’ll work with the future alignment of Haugen Drive.”
The project is currently in its scoping phase as DOT gathers input from other government agencies and the public. Karpstein says the DOT hopes to complete the environmental review for the project by the end of this year and final design work next year. Construction is expected to happen in 2015.
The DOT also plans a separate $3.7 million project on Nordic Drive with pavement rehabilitation and drainage work from Haugen Drive to the ferry terminal. That work is scheduled to happen before the Haugen Drive project and could be advertised later this year.
