The State of Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF), in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), is proposing to construct a weigh station for the Division of Measurement Standards and Commercial Vehicle Enforcement (MSCVE) between Fairbanks and North Pole, Alaska The weigh station will consist of two facilities to serve the north and southbound traffic. This letter is to apprise you of the project and to provide your organization with the opportunity to comment on the proposed project.
The current proposed plan has been developed using input received from the MSCVE staff and highway design standards. Public open houses have been held since August of 2004 to receive input from adjacent neighborhoods with respect to local traffic changes. Both northbound and southbound sites are located on the Richardson Highway near the Fort Wainwright (FTWW) 3‑Mile Gate (Figure 1).
Initial engineering alternatives, which were eliminated because they were found to be unreasonable or did not fully meet the project objectives, are documented in the Richardson Highway Fairbanks New Weigh Station Reconnaissance Report. This report is available upon request to the Project Manager.
Purpose and Need 
A weigh station previously existed east of the proposed location and was removed in 2002 when the Badger Road/Richardson Highway Interchange was reconstructed as an overpass. This project will meet the need for commercial vehicle enforcement on the Richardson Highway in the Fairbanks North Star Borough.
The purpose of the proposed weigh station is to:
- Inspect commercial vehicles
- Monitor driver qualifications
- Monitor the amount of time drivers are on the road
- Monitor vehicle size and weight
- Protect the roads from damage caused by overloaded vehicles
Proposed Action
The proposed action includes construction of north- and southbound weigh stations near FTWW 3‑Mile Gate, see Figure 2a and Figure 2b. At each site, the facilities will include:
- Scale houses with water supplies, lavatories, on-site septic systems, and possibly chemical fire suppression with early fire detection systems
- Multi-platform scales with scale pits that include storm water drainage systems
- Inspection facility (northbound facility only) with administrative space, a snowmelt drainage system, and possibly chemical fire suppression with early fire detection system
- Parking areas with headbolt heater outlets for staff (within Air Quality CO Maintenance Area)
- Acceleration and deceleration lanes (southbound) and auxiliary lane (northbound)
- Lighting for weigh station facility and along the acceleration, deceleration, and auxiliary lanes with underground electrical conduit
- Weigh Station Open/Closed Signage with underground electrical conduit
- Acquisition of additional Right-of-Way (ROW)/easements, and access control
Preliminary Research Results
Appendix A contains the results of our preliminary research into the environmental resources in the area. A project website has been set up at: www.pdcprojects.info to provide project information and allow you to comment.
In addition to identifying any concerns your agency might have with the proposed project, links on the project website identify agency-specific information that we need from you. Please go to the website and click on your organization to find a list of questions specific to your purview, and a link that allows you to provide comments directly to our environmental consultant via e-mail.
To ensure that all factors are considered in the Categorical Exclusion, we request that you send your comments by October 27, 2006. If you have any questions regarding the project, feel free to call our environmental consultant, Royce Conlon of PDC Inc. Engineers, at 907-452‑1414, or by e‑mail at royceconlon@pdceng.us. Comment letters may be sent to Ms. Conlon at 1028 Aurora Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99709.
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