What you need to know:

• The Reflections Lake wayside and Knik River access area, just off the Glenn Highway south of Palmer, is slated for major upgrades, including new toilets, paving, 30 new parking spaces, and a large new memorial honoring the families of fallen service members, known as Gold Star families.
• The upgrades will be paid for by a combination of federal and state funds, while the memorial will be donated by a local nonprofit organization. The site for the memorial was chosen for its views of nearby Gold Star Peak.
• Preliminary construction is expected to begin next year, with major work scheduled for 2026.

PALMER — A heavily traveled wayside just off the Glenn Highway south of Palmer is slated for a major update that will include more parking and a new memorial honoring the families of military members killed in action.

Reflections Lake is located in the Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge on the Palmer side of the Knik River Bridge near mile 31 of the Glenn Highway. Of the approximately 30,000 vehicles that travel the corridor daily, an average of about 340 take the exits to Reflections Lake, according to state traffic data.

The area currently hosts a handful of designated parking spaces, two pit toilets, and an approximately one-mile handicapped-accessible trail that circles the stocked lake and offers clear views of the nearby Chugach Mountains, including Mount POW/MIA and Gold Star Peak. It is the only state-maintained wayside visible from the Glenn Highway between Moose Creek north of Palmer and Potter Marsh south of Anchorage.

Preliminary plans call for 30 new paved parking spaces, including 15 for vehicles with trailers; road paving; a new picnic shelter; a new interpretive kiosk; a "Kids Don't Float" life jacket area and signage; a new double-pit toilet; a new boardwalk leading from the new parking area to the current lake trail; and a 65-foot-by-85-foot monument pad just off the new boardwalk.

The upgrades will be constructed near the Knik River access, just south of the lake and the current parking area. Some lake access will be temporarily disrupted during construction, said officials with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which is overseeing the overhaul because it is within the refuge.

Minor preliminary work for the new project is expected to begin next year, they said. The bulk of the updates, including the installation of the nearly 4-foot-by-15-foot black granite monument, are scheduled for 2026.

A major overhaul of the nearby Knik River Bridge is also scheduled to begin next year.

Once known as a free-for-all shooting range littered with household trash and nicknamed "Rambo Rest Stop," the area received its last major overhaul in 2012, when the current trails and facilities were completed, according to state records.

Since then, the area has become a popular stop for tourists and locals looking for a bathroom break, an easy hike, or access to the Knik River and nearby wetlands.

The wayside update is expected to cost about $1.7 million and will be paid for by federal funds, plus $267,000 from the state, said Sue Rodman, a Fish and Game program coordinator. The monument will be paid for by donations from the Eagle River-based nonprofit Gold Star Peak Inc., she said.

Plans for the project were created in 2021 as part of a capstone project by University of Alaska engineering students and supervised by school faculty, Rodman said.

The site was chosen for the monument because of its combination of views of Gold Star Peak and accessibility from the highway, said Kirk Alkire, a retired Army first sergeant who leads the Gold Star Peak nonprofit.

Alkire led an effort in 2018 to designate the previously unnamed peak on the Mount POW/MIA ridgeline as Gold Star Peak. The peak is named in honor of family members of military personnel killed in action, also known as Gold Star families. A summit memorial features a cross and a large collection of military dog tags left by visitors in honor of service members. The hike has become a pilgrimage for many military supporters and families of fallen troops, Alkire said.

Alkire's organization has led nearly 3,000 hikers up and down the peak, he said. But because the climb is so challenging — it gains about 3,000 feet over 2.5 miles — many would-be visitors cannot access it, he said. Reflections Lake offers an ideal alternative site for a memorial that can be visited by anyone.

“We knew we had to create a place for people who can’t climb,” he said. “People can go there to reflect — reflect on the summit, reflect on their hero, and have a wonderful monument there so that they can honor that hero.”

The monument, the first of its kind in Alaska, will be purchased through the Woody Williams Foundation, an organization founded by World War II Medal of Honor recipient Herschel "Woody" Williams and dedicated to placing similar monuments in every state and U.S. territory.

The double-sided, four-panel monuments designed by the foundation weigh thousands of pounds and feature a cutout of a saluting service member and inscriptions on both sides, according to the foundation's website.

On one side, the words "Gold Star Families Memorial Monument, a tribute to Gold Star families and relatives who sacrificed a loved one for our freedom” sit next to a large gold star. On the other, the words "Homeland, Family, Patriot, and Sacrifice" are etched on panels below images of Mount Rushmore, a silhouetted family, the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima, and a flag-draped casket in front of rows of headstones.

Alkire said the organization has raised $100,000 to cover the cost of the memorial. The monument will be built in the lower 48 and shipped to the state, he said.

Gold Star Peak Inc. also recently built a separate memorial on land the nonprofit owns just south of the Gold Star Peak trail access on Eklutna Lake Road.

That memorial, constructed in Anchorage and installed on the property this month, features the official seals of the military services, gold stars inlaid on a metal cutout of Gold Star Peak and its nearby ridgelines, and a configuration of boots, rifle, helmet and military dog tags typically used to represent fallen troops.

Visitors interested in viewing the memorial should contact Gold Star Peak Inc. through the organization's website, Alkire said.

-- Amy Bushatz can be contacted at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.