The Municipality of Anchorage plans on spending nearly half a million dollars to reconstruct a two-block path along Mountain View Drive.

The project, announced in late April, is part of a much larger vision, city planners say. Eventually, the Mountain View Drive path will lead to a “bike boulevard” on Peterkin Avenue; a connection between the Ship Creek Trail and the bike path alongside the Glenn Highway. The whole thing could take a few years.

Craig Lyon, a municipal transportation planning supervisor, said the Mountain View Drive pathway is scheduled to be built in 2018. The path would run from North Bunn Street to North Bliss Street, and construction itself should cost around $264,000, he said. The design costs approximately $118,000. Purchasing public use easements will cost nearly $50,000. Lyon said money for the project comes from the Federal Highway Administration.

Meanwhile, the Peterkin Avenue bike boulevard remains in limbo, according to Public Works Department project manager Lori Schanche. A 1998 Mountain View transportation study recommended building the trail on the north side of the street. But the same transportation study also recommended blocking six streets leading out of the neighborhood and improving the Peterkin pedestrian route, among other things. Now, building a bike boulevard down Peterkin Avenue would mean passing by the crowded Mountain View Community Center and changing traffic patterns around the neighborhood, Schanche said. That takes more study.