DOT launches differential speed section of Seward Highway

Starting Monday, the right lane on a section of the Seward Highway between Anchorage and Kenai will legally become the slow lane.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is launching a project to study how lowering the speed limit in the just right lane of a highway impacts congestion and facilitates passing on the left. The project will reduce the speed limit in the right lane on a section of the Seward Highway between the Hope Junction and the top of Turnagain Pass.

That way, drivers in the left lane can pass drivers in the right lane more easily, avoiding conflict when they are both going relatively fast and have to merge when the passing lane ends.

Starting Monday, the speed limit on the section of the Seward Highway from Mile 60–65 will be 55 in the right lane and 65 in the left lane.

“With a lower posted speed limit in the right (slow) lane, passing speeds can be reduced while allowing more vehicles to pass within designated passing lanes,” stated a DOT press release issued Friday.

The state intentionally designed the project for situations just such as the upcoming weekend — with the warm July weather, many tourists and an opening personal use dipnet fishery on the Kenai River, the traffic headed for the Kenai Peninsula will swell to peaks of 20,000 vehicles on some days in July. The Seward Highway is a known high-traffic area — the state has lengthened and added passing lanes from Anchorage south toward the Kenai Peninsula in recent years.

The project is targeted at both controlling congestion and improving safety, said Scott Thomas, the Central Region traffic engineer for DOT.

DOT has been working on the project for more than two years, which is primarily funded through the Federal Highway Administration, he said. DOT Planners met with the Alaska State Troopers and trucking associations, who regularly drive the highway to and from Anchorage, to work out how to solve the problem without impacting any one group too heavily, he said.

Starting a project on the road right away could have been expensive, though, so to save costs, the state went through a virtual driving simulator first. Thomas said the planners worked with programmers from the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, to design a simulation that mimics the conditions on the Turnagain Pass road.

“They can make it look like the passing lanes and put real drivers behind the wheel of a mini truck,” Thomas said. “It’s drivers of different ages, different skill levels.”

Currently, DOT plans to run the test throughout July, but has no plans to run into August. Thomas said the department will gather data about traffic speeds and the distance between cars throughout the month and analyze it. If it’s successful, the state may look at other areas to implement similar programs, he said.

Nothing will change for the troopers — they enforce the speed limits DOT sets, and their instruments will behave the same, said Megan Peters, spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety.

“If we’re around, we do our best to contact (speeding drivers) and have them respond to our tickets that we give them,” Peters said. “It’s going to be no different.”

Much of the good behavior will rely on drivers in the first place, Thomas said.

Following the posted speed limits, allowing faster drivers to pass when going uphill and being cognizant of where other drivers are will help promote safety, he said. He illustrated a common situation: someone going slowly up a hill toward Kenai with a line of four or five vehicles behind them.

The simplest solution: just put on the turning signal and pull over into the slow lane.

“Then I’d let up on the gas, and then people start rolling by you, and you can tell they’re not very upset,” Thomas said. It takes a conscious decision to let up on the gas.”

Reach Elizabeth Earl at elizabeth.earl@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

A demonstrator holds up a sign during the “No Kings” protest on Saturday, June 14, 2025, at WKFL Park in Homer, Alaska. (Chloe Pleznac/Homer News)
Homer hits the streets to say ‘No Kings’

Around 700 gathered locally as part of a nationwide protest.

Brooklyn Coleman, right, staffs The Squeeze Squad lemonade stand during Lemonade Day in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kids learn business skills at annual Lemonade Day

Around 40 stands were strewn around Soldotna, Kenai, Nikiski and Sterling for the event.

Planes are showcased at the Kenai Air Fair in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai fair shows off aircraft of all kinds

Cargo planes to helicopters were on display Saturday.

David Meyer. Photo courtesy of Chantrelle Meyer
Volunteers continue search for missing Happy Valley man

David Meyer was reported missing June 11 while kayaking in Cook Inlet.

Boats at Douglas Harbor under mostly clear skies on Sunday, June 15, 2025. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
80°F in Juneau will trigger first-ever National Weather Service heat advisories

Officials say sun’s angle in Alaska makes temperatures feel higher compared to other states.

People carrying flags and signs line the Sterling Highway for a “No Kings” protest in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna ‘No Kings’ protest draws hundreds

The nationwide protest came the same day as a military parade organized at the behest of the Trump administration.

Council member Jordan Chilson speaks during a Soldotna City Council work session in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna council mulls change to meeting time

Meetings would be moved from 6 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. under a resolution set to be considered on June 25.

Mountain View Elementary School is photographed on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022 in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Mountain View vandalized by children, police say

Staff who arrived at the school on Monday found significant damage, according to police.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy compares Alaska to Mississippi data on poverty, per-pupil education spending, and the 2024 National Assessment of Education Progress 4th grade reading scores during a press conference on Jan. 31, 2025. Alaska is highlighted in yellow, while Mississippi is in red. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
Dunleavy vetoes education funding to $500 BSA increase

Per-student funding was increased by $700 in an education bill passed by the Alaska Legislature in May.

Most Read