Transportation

Potential changes to Juneau’s bus system could include service to Riverside Drive, more reliable on-time service, and earlier buses. But expanding service to Costco or the ferry terminal could be cost prohibitive. That’s what the Juneau Assembly heard during Monday’s committee of the whole meeting.

According to Geoff Slater with Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates, Juneau has a great transit system. He says ridership on Capital Transit is among the highest in the country for a community of Juneau’s size, but there are some weaknesses:

“More people riding the buses are slowing down the buses. More traffic lights, more traffic are slowing down the buses, and the buses can’t keep on schedule for much of the day, especially in the afternoon. As the buses run behind, people miss transfers, the buses can’t stay on schedule, and I think for people to be able to rely on the system, it has to run reliably.”

After looking at the issue for more than a year, which includes working with the public and city staff, Slater presented several short-term recommendations for Capital Transit. He says the recommendations would fix existing operational issues and allow the system to expand into a new area, “Service would run on time a lot more. There would be service to Riverside Drive, the express route would come into the Downtown Transit Center, service would operate differently out on the Back Loop, and service would operate until 9:30 at night in and out of [University of Alaska Southeast].”

Riverside Drive has been deemed a high demand area in Juneau not currently served. Service there would provide access to Dimond Park Aquatic Center, Thunder Mountain High School, sports fields, and the future Mendenhall Valley Public Library. The recommendations would also have the Express service run earlier to get people to work by 7 a.m., but discontinue the North Douglas midday trip.

Capital Transit provides up to 4,500 passenger trips per weekday. Slater says his short-term recommendations would see that number increase:

“Service into Riverside brings service to a lot of people who aren’t served now and some of these operational improvement – with service being more reliable – that will also increase ridership. Overall, this plan will bring service to within a quarter mile about ten percent more households in Juneau. So more people will have access to this service and will avail themselves to it.”

Annually, the transit system costs the City and Borough of Juneau roughly $5 million. These recommendations would cost the city an additional $200,000.

Slater’s short term recommendations do not include service to the Lemon Creek industrial area, which includes Costco and Home Depot, or the Auke Bay Ferry Terminal. Expansion to those areas would cost the city an estimated $1 million per year.

An agreement to avert Juneau’s version of the fecal cliff for the next five years is in the works.

The proposed deal calls for Juneau landfill operator Waste Management to continue shipping the city’s processed sewage sludge to the Lower 48. In the meantime, Juneau Public Works Director Kirk Duncan says city officials will investigate a long term solution for what to do with the stuff, sometimes called biosolids.

“The contract has no minimum,” Duncan told the Juneau Assembly Public Works and Facilities Committee on Monday. “So as we come to the final solution of biosolids – which may take us five years or it may take us three years or it may take us two years to implement – we do have the option to haul for the next five years.”

Waste Management has been hauling Juneau’s sludge to a disposal site in Oregon for more than a year. Its current contract runs through March. Duncan says the city and the company have resolved issues with the containers used during shipping that led to odor and leakage problems.

The city has batted around various ideas for what to do with its processed sewage since 2010, when its sludge incinerator went offline. One option involves about $3 million in upgrades to the Mendenhall Valley Wastewater Treatment Plant that would allow the city to turn the stuff into fill or fertilizer.

Assemblyman Randy Wanamaker says he’d like to see a long term solution sooner rather than later.

“If I’ve heard one thing all winter long, it’s we have got to fix this,” Wanamaker said. “It doesn’t matter whether I’m talking to my dentist or somebody at the coffee shop. It’s all over the place. It’s just one of those things, and people want us to have a long term solution.”

Duncan said the monetary terms of the new agreement with Waste Management are still being finalized.

Fecal cliff is a term coined by a DJ at KVOK in Kodiak, which faced a similar problem of what to do with its municipal sewage waste in 2012.

Full disclosure: Kirk Duncan is a member of the KTOO Board of Directors.

Related stories:
Juneau pushes fecal cliff out 3 more months
10 weeks until Juneau goes over a fecal cliff

All power restored out the road, and the line crew is wrapping up after a rough couple of days.

— AEL&P (@AELPJUNEAU) January 2, 2014

Original post:

It’s likely to be a cold start to the New Year for Juneau residents who live out the road.

Most places north of Tee Harbor have been without electricity since Monday morning, and Alaska Electric Light and Power Spokesman Alec Mesdag says it could be another 12 to 24 hours before power is restored.

“With the heavy, wet snow, what’s happening is when the trees are coming down there’s so much weight that it’s breaking a lot of lines and it’s breaking poles,” Mesdag says. “So the repairs take a lot longer when that happens. It’s not just going in and cutting some branches out of the lines and then re-energizing.”

When a pole breaks, Mesdag says AEL&P crews have to plant a new one and string the power line to it.

He estimates a couple hundred customers could be without power into New Year’s Day.

“Right now all our crews that are available to work are out [working]. We have to, because this is going on for a while, we have to send guys home to get rest to make sure they are able to work safely,” he says. “So try to plan for being out of power. Make sure you have your outage kits prepared. Make sure you have some food and water, and the ability to stay warm.”

The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for tonight and early Wednesday morning for the Juneau area. Heavy rain mixed with snow is expected overnight, with heavy rain in the forecast for New Year’s Day.

The Juneau Assembly met behind closed doors Monday night to discuss the city’s parking management.

Earlier in the day, City Manager Kim Kiefer gave an update on the situation. “The parking meters as they are right now, people still need to use them as they’re designed to be used,” she said.

The city has had ongoing issues with the current system run by Aparc Parking Solutions. Information from the parking machines weren’t getting accurately communicated to handheld devices used by the Juneau Police Department.

“We are looking at a variety of different options that you look at when you have a system that isn’t functioning the way you want to,” Kiefer said. “So we’re looking at how can it be improved, can it not be improved, what are our other options, and how can we go forward with each one of those, and what makes the most sense for the city long term.

Parking laws and penalties are “for the most part” being enforced. Community service officers are on the lookout, Keifer said.

“They are ticketing now, so don’t think you can run in and park in a loading zone if you’re not loading, or think that you can park in someplace that’s marked for an hour and think you can spend a couple hours there. …So you need to be aware of where you’re parking and look at the signs.”

During the assembly meeting, member Carlton Smith said he’s heard from different people in the community that parking is one of the city’s main problems. Public perception is that the system may be broken, Smith said.

“One comment was made – in this interim period where we have the issue with the existing system – that it might be advisable to make a public announcement that until further notice, all those parking charges are abated, and I know that’s a financial decision, but it’s also a time when people aren’t certain whether the machines are working or not.”

The assembly discussed the issue during executive session. The city has put more than $400,000 into the current parking system.

Also during the hour-and-a-half closed-door session, the assembly discussed the 2012 incident involving a former Juneau teacher accused of assaulting a teenager at an Oregon football camp.

Related Story:

City will move to ‘pay and display’ downtown parking

Delta Air Lines is resuming its long-dormant Seattle-Juneau flights.

But they’ll only happen once a day — and only during the summer.

The airline’s website shows bookings are now available from May 29 to Aug. 31, 2014.

Southbound flights will leave Juneau at 6:30 a.m. and arrive in Seattle at 9:40 a.m. Northbound flights leave Seattle at 6:45 p.m. and arrive in Juneau at 8:10 p.m.

The Delta website quotes roundtrip prices at around $500. That’s about $70 less than Alaska Airlines charges for similar flights.

Delta officials could not be reached for immediate comment. But a corporate communications staffer said an announcement could be released soon.

In a prepared statement, Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said her company has made a decades-long commitment to the community.

She said technology tested in Juneau means it has often been, quote, “the only airline to access the state’s capital when no other commercial airline could.”

Delta and Alaska are mileage and flight-sharing partners, listing some of each other’s flights under their own brand.

But they’ve become increasingly competitive. Delta has been expanding flights to and from the Sea-Tac Airport, where Alaska is the largest tenant. Some of those flights directly compete with Alaska.

Atlanta-based Delta used to fly to the capital city. Juneau airport officials say that ended in 1996.

Updated | Dec. 12, 2013 – 6:17 a.m.

Both the Juneau school buses and Capital Transit buses are continuing to run on snow routes today.

Original Post | Dec. 11, 2013 – 7:15 a.m.

The National Weather Service is calling for heavy snow throughout the day and into tomorrow. The forecast predicts as much as two feet of snow might accumulate. The snow will be heavy and visibility will be limited.

Juneau School Buses

Juneau schools have shifted to winter bus routes for today. You can see those stops here.

Capital City Transit

Capital City Transit has also moved to winter routes, effective until midnight tonight.

Service will be discontinued on St. Ann’s Avenue, Cordova Street, Davis Avenue, Lemon Creek Road, and Franklin and Fourth Streets Downtown:

No service on Cordova Street.  Please wait for the bus at the Breeze Inn stop.
No service to St Ann’s.  Please wait for the bus at the Douglas Post Office stop.
No service on Franklin or 4^th street.  Please wait for the bus at the Main Street stop.
No service on Davis Avenue and Lemon Creek Road.  Please wait for the bus at Glacier Highway.

The snow storm is also causing power outages. According to AEL&P’s Twitter feed, the company is working to resolve power outages from Lena point out the road.

Heavy snow is causing us a bit of trouble. Crew has restored power to about 100 customers and are working hard to restore the remainder.

— AEL&P (@AELPJUNEAU) December 11, 2013