Seward-Meridian's First Winter as a Through Road, From Tambert Drive to Cottonwood Creek

Jamie Lundgren, a senior at Career and Technical High School, did the reporting for Big Cabbage Radio's Page 2 segment on October 9 about the road his school sits on. The segment's photo shows him giving a thumbs-up on the new pavement. He reported that Seward-Meridian Parkway "is finished and open to traffic from the Parks Highway to Seldon Road," that it opened in early September, and that "the impact on driving and traffic was immediate."

For anyone living near the corridor, the biggest change is that the road no longer works as a wall. Neighborhood streets stopped serving as the bypass. People on foot got their own route along the west side. Paddlers on Cottonwood Creek got a bridge in place of a half-buried pipe. The road opened just as the leaves were turning, so the coming winter is the first full season with all of this in place.

Tait and Tambert Stop Being the Shortcut

The old problem came down to one missing link. Seward-Meridian didn't connect Bogard Road to Seldon Road. In its Winter 2026 issue, Alaska Contractor described how that gap pushed drivers heading to Mat-Su Career and Technical High School or Teeland Middle School onto "a previously quiet residential street." Big Cabbage Radio named the streets. For years, drivers cut from Bogard to Seldon through the neighborhood on Tait Drive and Tambert Drive.

The new half-mile connector fills that gap. It runs past Career and Technical High School and Fronteras Charter School, so drivers no longer face what the Mat-Su Sentinel called "a miles-long detour" by way of Bogard Road. The full corridor now runs nearly 2.5 miles without a break, from the Seldon corridor to the Parks Highway and Walmart.

Traffic didn't spread out evenly. It moved back onto the arterial built to carry it. Local business owner Jessica Brown told Big Cabbage Radio that the extension is a direct route and that fewer drivers are cutting through neighborhoods. That shift matters because of the volume involved. State traffic data puts daily traffic on Seward-Meridian at more than 13,000 vehicles. Before September, some share of that flow had nowhere to go but residential side streets.

The connector also opened later than planned. State transportation officials first aimed to finish by the start of the school year. The Sentinel reported in August that materials delays and a backlog at the Granite Construction asphalt facility near Palmer pushed the date back. Project engineer Jonathan Tague said he hoped to have the road fully open by August 31. "We appreciate people's patience," he told the Sentinel. "We're very, very close to the finish line." The road opened in early September.

Where You Can Now Turn

Taking cut-through traffic off neighborhood streets only works if the parkway is easier to get onto. That's where the signals come in. Tague explained the reasoning to Alaska Contractor. As traffic grew, turns from side streets got riskier because "people start taking chances." Phase 2 doubled the number of signalized intersections, with three new signals and upgrades at three others, which gives side-street traffic more controlled chances to join the flow.

When construction started, the Frontiersman listed where the signals were planned:

The Bogard Road signal was one of the final pieces. The Sentinel reported that after paving, crews still had to stripe the road and finish the permanent signal at Bogard and Seward-Meridian. The project also added turn lanes, 8-foot paved shoulders, center medians in some sections, and right-in, right-out entrances. The entrance to the Alcantra Alaska Army National Guard Armory was scheduled to move from Bogard Road to a new section of the parkway.

Much of the daily traffic heads to the medical plaza. Alaska Contractor describes clinics, a surgery center, and a 67-bed skilled nursing facility along the corridor. Palmer resident Bill Sharlow told Big Cabbage Radio that getting to and from the medical plaza is much easier now, and that the new traffic lights and intersections are well placed. That's a quick drive from Palmer, and a quicker one from neighborhoods off Seldon that used to reach the plaza by way of Bogard.

A Separate Path on the West Side

The second change matters most from November through February. A separated multi-use path now runs the full length of the project on the west side of the road. Alaska Contractor reported that the side was chosen on purpose, because three of the four schools along the corridor sit on the west. The path gives students on foot or bike a protected route from Seldon south to Walmart at the Parks Highway. At its south end it ties into the existing path at the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

The project also added more than 100 streetlights along the corridor. Big Cabbage Radio also noted new sidewalks, crosswalks, and pedestrian railings. A walk to the medical park, a bike ride toward the Parks Highway shops, or a short trip between the Seldon neighborhoods and Walmart used to mean walking the edge of a rutted two-lane road. Now it happens on a separated path. This will be the path's first winter of snow and short days, so how it holds up in January is still unknown.

What Changed Under the Road

The third change sits below road level, and you'll see it best from a boat next spring.

Before the project, Cottonwood Creek passed under Seward-Meridian through a culvert. Cody Troseth, project manager for Mass X, described it to Alaska Contractor as "just a 10-foot culvert, half-buried, clogged with rocks, timbers, and even trees." Paddlers on the Seven Mile Canoe Trail had two options there. They could carry their boats across the parkway or try the narrow culvert.

That crossing is now an open channel under a bridge 120 feet long and 90 feet wide. "Now it looks and functions like a real stream," Troseth said. Tague explained that the road was raised about 14 feet at that spot. A culvert would have needed much wider fill and would have affected far more of the stream channel, and the Department of Fish and Game strongly prefers a bridge for salmon passage. Crews kept the original streambed material so the channel still looks and works like a creek. The project plan also included a paved parking lot and a gravel path under the bridge along the creek.

The creek paid for that change with two seasons of closure. The Frontiersman reported in October 2024 that the trail would close until the bridge was finished. In August 2025, the trail was still closed.

Here's the route the bridge was built for, from the lake at the top of the chain down to Wasilla Lake:

1. Finger Lake State Recreation Site. The usual put-in. This Alaska State Parks unit has a boat launch, and the Mat-Su Borough enforces motor restrictions on the lake.
2. Cottonwood Lake. Guided-trip descriptions include a portage up and down a hill between Finger Lake and Cottonwood Lake.
3. Cottonwood Creek. This stretch passes under the new Seward-Meridian bridge.
4. Mud Lake and Upper Wasilla Lake. The middle of the chain.
5. Wasilla Lake. Guided trips commonly finish at Newcomb Park.

One guided half-day trip on the full route plans for about four hours. Alaska State Parks lists Paddle Sports by True North AK as a provider of tours, classes, and paddle-craft rentals in the area. The bridge was designed for paddlers to pass under, but check the creek's status, the parking lot, and conditions at Finger Lake before the first spring trip. Alaska State Parks notes that Finger Lake campsites usually open in mid-May, depending on staffing and host availability.

Twenty Years for Two Miles

The corridor looks fast now, but it was slow to build. Seward-Meridian was first constructed in 1982, and Phase 1, from the Parks Highway to the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, was finished in 2012. Phase 2, the $44 million federally funded stretch through Bogard to Seldon, started in 2024. Big Cabbage Radio called it a project "planned more than 20 years ago." The Alaska DOT&PF project page keeps the full scope and the official documents in one place.

Seen from Tambert Drive, the West Side path, or a canoe on Cottonwood Creek, the project's result is the same. Cars stay on the parkway, people on foot have a separate route, and the creek runs open under the road. This winter is the first time all three are in place at once.

If you're weighing a home along the Seward-Meridian corridor, the Seldon neighborhoods, or near the Cottonwood Creek end of the canoe trail, how a street works now that the detour is gone deserves a closer look. Sarah Helgoe at Your Vision Realty Group is glad to walk through what these changes mean for a particular address, whenever you're ready. Let's Connect.