Thompson Drive open--Fairbanks Street entrance now closed

Submitted by Carla Browning
Phone: (907) 474-7778
08/25/05

The University of Alaska Fairbanks main campus has a grand new entrance. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities officially opened Thompson Drive at Loftus and Geist Thursday, Aug. 25, 2005. The new entrance, leading up to a roundabout intersection with Tanana Loop, is complete with a spectacular view of the University of Alaska Museum of the North.

The University of Alaska Board of Regents approved the naming of the drive, honoring Alaska Native leader Morris Thompson, his wife Thelma and daughter Sheryl Thompson who died in a plane crash in 2000. Generally, UAF streets are named for Alaska rivers, but exceptions have been made for both Alumni Drive and now Thompson Drive.

The road was built using two experimental construction technologies, that allow the underlying permafrost to stay frozen, preserving the roadbed. It also includes landscaping, sidewalk, lighting and a pullout for visitors. The entrance was needed because the existing access on Fairbanks Street is congested with school traffic and the roadbed has settled, resulting in grade and sight distance problems at the railroad overpass. Fairbanks Street, just North of West Valley High School, closed Saturday, Aug. 27.

Contact: Shannon McCarthy, ADOT&PF information officer at (907) 451-2240 for more information.