Alaska Highway
Alaska Highway | ||
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Route information | ||
Length | 2,232 km[2] (1,387 mi) (as of 2012) | |
Existed | 1942[1]–present | |
Component highways | ||
Major junctions | ||
South end | Dawson Creek, BC | |
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North end | AK-4 (Richardson Highway) at Delta Junction, AK | |
Location | ||
Countries | Canada, United States | |
Provinces | Whitehorse, YT; Tok, AK; Delta Junction, AK | |
Highway system | ||
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The Alaska Highway (
An informal system of historic mileposts developed over the years to denote major stopping points. Delta Junction, at the end of the highway, makes reference to its location at "Historic Milepost 1422".[2] It is at this point that the Alaska Highway meets the Richardson Highway, which continues 155 km (96 mi) to the city of Fairbanks. This is often regarded, though unofficially, as the northwestern portion of the Alaska Highway, with Fairbanks at Historic Milepost 1520.[2] Mileposts on this stretch of highway are measured from the port of Valdez on Prince William Sound, rather than the Alaska Highway. The Alaska Highway is popularly (but unofficially) considered part of the Pan-American Highway, which extends south (despite its discontinuity in Panama) to Argentina.[3]
History
Proposal
Proposals for a highway to Alaska originated in the 1920s.
In 1929, the British Columbia government proposed a highway to Alaska to encourage economic development and tourism. American President Herbert Hoover appointed a board with American and three Canadian members to evaluate the idea. Its 1931 report supported the idea for economic reasons, but both American and Canadian members recognized that a highway would benefit the American military in Alaska. In 1933, the joint commission proposed the U.S. government contribute $2 million of the capital cost, with the $12 million balance borne by the Canadian and BC governments.[5] The Great Depression and the Canadian government's lack of support caused the project to not proceed.
When the United States approached Canada again in February 1936, the Canadian government refused to commit to spending money on a road connecting the United States. The Canadians also worried about the military implications, fearing that in a war between Japan and North America, the United States would use the road to prevent Canadian neutrality. During a June 1936 visit to Canada, President
The December 7, 1941
Routing
The Americans preferred Route A which, starting at Prince George, went northwest to Hazelton, along the Stikine River, by
The Canadians favored Route B. This also started at Prince George, but followed the Rocky Mountain Trench up the valleys of the Parsnip and Finlay Rivers to Finlay Forks and Sifton Pass, then north to Frances Lake and the Pelly River in the Yukon. From there it went to Dawson City and down the Yukon Valley to connect the Richardson Highway to Fairbanks. The advantages of this inland route was the safe distance from enemy planes, and 209 miles (336 km) shorter with lower elevations enabling lower construction and maintenance costs. The disadvantages were the bypassing of respective airbases, and Whitehorse, the principal town in the Yukon. Optional variations in the southern portion of this route were via Vanderhoof to the west or Monkman Pass to the east.
Route C, the Prairie option, advocated by the
Construction
The road was originally built mostly by the
The official start of construction took place on March 9, 1942, after hundreds of pieces of construction equipment were moved on priority trains by the
On September 24, 1942, crews from both directions met at Mile 588 at what became named Contact Creek,[13] at the British Columbia-Yukon border at the 60th parallel; the entire route was completed October 28, 1942, with the northern linkup at Mile 1202, Beaver Creek, and the highway was dedicated on November 20, 1942, at Soldier's Summit.
Although it was completed on October 28, 1942, and its completion was celebrated at Soldier's Summit on November 21 (and broadcast by radio, the exact outdoor temperature censored due to wartime concerns), the "highway" was not usable by general vehicles until 1943. Even then there were many steep grades, a poor surface, switchbacks to gain and descend hills, and few guardrails. Bridges, which progressed during 1942 from pontoon bridges to temporary log bridges, were replaced with steel bridges where necessary. A replica log bridge, the Canyon Creek bridge, can be seen at the Aishihik River crossing; the bridge was rebuilt in 1987 and refurbished in 2005 by the Yukon government where it functions as a popular tourist attraction. The easing of the Japanese invasion threat resulted in no more contracts being given to private contractors for upgrading of specific sections.
Some 100 miles (160 km) of route between
Pincers on Japan and Look to the North, both 1944 productions, were National Film Board of Canada documentaries that depicted the construction of the Alaska Highway.[14][15]
Post war
The original agreement between Canada and the United States regarding construction of the highway stipulated that its Canadian portion be turned over to Canada six months after the end of the war.[16] This took place on April 1, 1946, when the U.S. Army transferred control of the road through Yukon and British Columbia to the Canadian Army, Northwest Highway System. The Alaskan section was completely paved during the 1960s. The lower 50 miles of the Canadian portion were paved in 1959,[17] but the remainder was largely gravel. While the entire route is now completely paved (mostly with bituminous surface treatment), as late as the mid-1980s the highway still included sections of winding dusty road sandwiched between high quality reconstructed paved segments.[18]
The Milepost, an extensive guide book to the Alaska Highway and other highways in Alaska and Northwest Canada, was first published in 1949 and continues to be published annually as the foremost guide to travelling the highway.
The
The Alaska Highway was built for military purposes and its route was not ideal for postwar development of northern Canada.
Rerouting continues, expected to continue in the Yukon through 2009[
There are historical mileposts along the B.C. and Yukon sections of the highway, installed in 1992, that note specific locations, although the posts no longer represent accurate driving distance. There are 80 mileposts in B.C., 70 in Yukon and 16 in Alaska with a simple number marker of the original mile distance. There are 31 "historic signs" in B.C., 22 in Yukon and 5 in Alaska, identifying the significance of the location. There are 18 interpretive panels in B.C., 14 in Yukon and 5 in Alaska which give detailed text information at a turn-off parking area.
The portion of the Alaska Highway in Alaska is designated
Route markings
The Canadian section of the road was delineated with mileposts, based on the road as it was in 1947, but over the years, reconstruction steadily shortened the distance between some of those mileposts. In 1978, metric signs were placed on the highway, and the mileposts were replaced with kilometre posts at the approximate locations of a historic mileage of equal value, e.g. km post 1000 was posted about where historical Mile 621 would have been posted.
As reconstruction continues to shorten the highway, the kilometre posts, at 2-kilometre (1.2 mi) intervals, were recalibrated along the B.C. section of road to reflect the driving distances in 1990. The section of highway covered by the 1990 recalibration has since been rendered shorter by further realignments, such as near Summit Pass and between Muncho Lake and Iron Creek.
Based on where those values left off, new Yukon kilometre posts were erected in fall 2002 between the B.C. border and the west end of the new bypass around
The Alaska portion of the highway is still marked by mileposts at 1-mile (1.6 km) intervals, although they no longer represent accurate driving distance, due to reconstruction.
The historic mileposts are still used by residents and businesses along the highway to refer to their location, and in some cases are also used as postal addresses. The community
Residents and travelers, and the government of the Yukon, do not use "east" and "west" to refer to direction of travel on the Yukon section, even though this is the predominant bearing of the Yukon portion of the highway; "north" and "south" are used, referring to the south (Dawson Creek) and north (Delta Junction) termini of the highway. This is an important consideration for travelers who may otherwise be confused, particularly when a westbound travel routes southwestward or even due south to circumvent a natural obstacle such as Kluane Lake.
Some B.C. sections west of Fort Nelson also route more east-to-west, with southwest bearings in some section; again, "north" is used in preference to "west".
Since 1949 The Milepost, an exhaustive guide to the Alaska Highway and all other routes through the region, has been published each year.
Proposed U.S. Route 97 designation
Location | Alaska Route 2 |
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History | Proposed,[21] but never designated |
The portion of the Alaska Highway in Alaska was planned to become part of the United States Numbered Highway System and to be signed as part of U.S. Route 97 (US 97). In 1953, the British Columbia government renumbered a series of highways to Highway 97 between the U.S. border at Osoyoos, US 97's northern terminus, and Dawson Creek.[citation needed] The Alaska International Rail and Highway Commission lobbied for the designation of Highway 97 from Fairbanks to Mexico City in the late 1950s.[22] Certain prior editions of United States Geological Survey topographic maps, mostly published during the 1950s, bore the US 97 highway shield along or near portions of the current AK-2.[23] In 1964, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) approved an extension of US 97 from the Yukon border to Fairbanks along AK-2, conditional to Yukon renumbering its portion of the Alaska Highway;[21] the Yukon government declined to renumber its portion of the highway and approval was withdrawn in 1968.[23]
Route description
This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2020) |
The pioneer road completed in 1942 was about 1,680 miles (2,700 km) from Dawson Creek to Delta Junction. The Army then turned the road over to the
The route follows a northwest then northward course from Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson. On October 16, 1957, a suspension bridge crossing the Peace River just south of Fort St. John collapsed. A new bridge was built a few years later. At Fort Nelson, the road turns west and crosses the Rocky Mountains, before resuming a westward course at Coal River. The highway crossed the Yukon-BC border nine times from Mile 590 to Mile 773, six of those crossings were from Mile 590 to Mile 596. After passing the south end of Kluane Lake, the highway follows a north-northwest course to the Alaska border, then northwest to the terminus at Delta Junction.
Postwar rebuilding has not shifted the highway more than 10 miles (16 km) from the original alignment, and in most cases, by less than 3 miles (4.8 km). It is not clear if it still crosses the Yukon-BC border six times from Mile 590 to Mile 596.[why?]
Interstate Highway System
Interstate A1 and Interstate A2 | |
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Location | Canada to Tok (A1) Tok to Delta Junction (A2) |
Length | 325.38 mi (523.65 km) |
Existed | 1976–present |
The Alaska portion of the Alaska Highway is an unsigned part of the
Major intersections
The following is a list of major intersections along the Alaska Highway:[26][27][28]
Province / Territory / State | Regional District/Borough | Location | km | mi | Destinations | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tumbler Ridge, Prince George | Alaska Highway southern terminus | |||||
Taylor | 53.5 | 33.2 | Crosses the Peace River | |||
Fort St. John | 71.7 | 44.6 | 100th Street – Cecil Lake, Fairview | |||
Hudson's Hope, Chetwynd | ||||||
Northern Rockies | Fort Nelson | 452.8 | 281.4 | 50 Street, Liard Street | ||
| 481.2 | 299.0 | Hwy 77 north (Liard Highway) – Fort Liard, Fort Simpson | |||
594.2 | 369.2 | Summit Pass – 1,267 m (4,157 ft) | ||||
760.1 | 472.3 | Crosses the Liard River | ||||
Yukon | Unorganized | | 902.7 | 560.9 | British Columbia – Yukon border | |
British Columbia | Stikine Region (Unorganized) | | 903.9 | 561.7 | British Columbia – Yukon border | |
Yukon | Unorganized | | 906.6 | 563.3 | British Columbia – Yukon border | |
British Columbia | Stikine Region (Unorganized) | | 915.0 | 568.6 | British Columbia – Yukon border | |
Yukon | Unorganized | | 916.8 | 569.7 | British Columbia – Yukon border | |
British Columbia | Stikine Region (Unorganized) | | 919.2 | 571.2 | British Columbia – Yukon border | |
Lower Post | 964.1 | 599.1 | British Columbia – Yukon border Hwy 97 northern terminus • Hwy 1 southern terminus | |||
Hwy 4 north (Robert Campbell Highway) – Ross River, Faro | ||||||
Upper Liard | 987.6 | 613.7 | Crosses the Liard River | |||
| 997.6 | 619.9 | Dease Lake, BC, Stewart, BC | |||
British Columbia | Stikine Region (Unorganized) | | 1,097.6 | 682.0 | British Columbia – Yukon border | |
Yukon | Unorganized | | 1,161.9 | 722.0 | British Columbia – Yukon border | |
Teslin | 1,201.9 | 746.8 | Crosses Nisutlin Bay (Teslin Lake) | |||
Hwy 6 north (Canol Road) – Ross River | ||||||
Carcross, Atlin, BC | ||||||
| 1,350.2 | 839.0 | Crosses the Yukon River | |||
Carcross, Tagish, Skagway, AK | South end of Hwy 2 concurrency | |||||
Whitehorse | 1,376.2 | 855.1 | South Access Road | |||
1,382.0 | 858.7 | Hamilton Boulevard, Two Mile Hill Road | ||||
1,393.7 | 866.0 | Dawson City | North end of Hwy 2 concurrency | |||
Hwy 3 south (Haines Highway) – Haines, AK | ||||||
Beaver Creek | 1,849.9 | 1,149.5 | ||||
southern terminus | ||||||
Dawson City, YK | ||||||
Tok | AK-1 west (Tok Cut-Off Highway) – Valdez, Anchorage | |||||
Alaska Highway northern terminus | ||||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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Bypassed road segments still in use
Fort Nelson
- Mile 301 to 308, now local residential feeder roads Wildflower Drive, Highland Road, Valleyview Drive
Whitehorse
- Mile 898, now local residential road just west of Yukon River Bridge
- Mile 920.3 to 922.5, now the southern and northern portions of Centennial Street; middle portion is Birch Street
- Mile 922.5 to 922.7, now a portion of Azure Road
- Mile 924, now a portion of Cousins Airfield Road
- Mile 925.5 to 926.9, now Parent Road (east end overlooks Alaska Highway/Klondike Highway junction)
- Mile 927.2 to 927.7, now Echo Valley Road
- Mile 928 to 928.3, now Jackson Road
- Mile 929 to 934, now Old Alaska Highway
- Mile 968, now entrance road to Mendenhall River Subdivision
Champagne-Aishihik traditional territory
- Mile 969 to 981, Champagne loop (bypassed in fall 2002 by 8.6-mile (13.8 km) revision)
- Mile 1016, Hume Street in Haines Junction including access to First Nation subdivision
Alaska-Canada Military Highway (Segment) | |
Location | About 37 miles (60 km) southeast of Delta Junction |
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Nearest city | Delta Junction |
Coordinates | 63°43′53″N 144°42′02″W / 63.731465°N 144.700526°W |
Built | 1904 |
NRHP reference No. | 13000543[29] |
Added to NRHP | July 31, 2013 |
Alaska
- Mile 1348,[30] one 2.5-mile (4.0 km) bypassed section of the original route, about 37 miles (60 km) southeast of Delta Junction, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as "one of the few sections of the road in Alaska virtually unchanged". The unpaved road is used by local residents to access Craig Lake,[31][32] and is signed as Craig Lake Trail.
Other former segments have deteriorated and are no longer usable. More recent construction projects have deliberately plowed up roadway to close it.
See also
- Inter-American Highway
- R504 Kolyma Highway
- List of Yukon territorial highways
- Pan-American Highway
- Sign Post Forest
- Alcan–Beaver Creek Border Crossing
References
- ^ PBS. 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2012.
- ^ a b c d "Alaska Highway". The Milepost. Morris Visitor Publications. Archived from the original on January 19, 2012. Retrieved January 8, 2012.
- ^ "The Pan American Highway". How Stuff Works. Retrieved April 27, 2012.
- ^ "How Road Will Benefit Prince George". Prince George Citizen. February 24, 1938. p. 5. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
- ^ a b Prince George Citizen, October 3, 1998[full citation needed]
- ISBN 0-275-95500-1.
- ^ Prince George Citizen, September 5, 1992[full citation needed]
- ^ Prince George Citizen: February 8, 1940, May 6, 1943, August 5, 1943, & September 5, 1992[full citation needed]
- ^ "In Road-Building, Black Soldiers Defied Prejudice". The New York Times. July 23, 2012. Archived from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
- ^ "The Alcan Highway". Modern Marvels. Season 6. 2003.
- ^ a b c "Champagne, Yukon (Shadhala-ra) - A Community Guide by ExploreNorth". explorenorth.com. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
- ^ a b "Sights and Sites of the Yukon: Central Yukon - Champagne: On access road off Alaska Highway". sightsandsites.ca. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
- ^ "Contact Creek". BC Geographical Names.
- ^ "Collection: 'Pincers on Japan'". NFB.ca. October 11, 2012. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
- ^ "Film: 'Look to the North'". NFB.ca. October 11, 2012. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
- OCLC 1036066. Archived from the originalon December 31, 2010. Retrieved April 17, 2008.
- ^ Prince George Citizen, July 21, 1959[full citation needed]
- ISBN 9780774844116– via Google Books.
- JSTOR 20078500.
- ^ "Yukon Highways Given Numbers". The Whitehorse Star. April 25, 1968. p. 21. Retrieved December 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b U.S. Route Numbering Committee (December 6, 1964). "U.S. Route Numbering Committee Agenda Showing Action Taken by AASHO Executive Committee" (PDF) (Report). Washington, DC: American Association of State Highway Officials. p. 294. Retrieved August 2, 2022 – via Wikimedia Commons.
- ^ "Alaskan At Highway 97 Meeting". The Seattle Times. November 15, 1959. p. 73.
- ^ a b "History". Highway 97 in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, & California. Summit Solutions. 2011. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
- ^ Federal Highway Administration. "Viewer" (Map). National Highway System. Archived from the original on August 27, 2007. Retrieved August 1, 2007.
- Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (April 2006). "Dwight D. Eisenhower Interstate Routes" (PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on July 27, 2009.
- ^ Cypher Consulting (July 2015). Landmark Kilometre Inventory (PDF) (Report). British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. pp. 452–461. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 1, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
- ^ Google (October 20, 2017). "Alaska Hwy (Hwy 1) in Yukon" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
- ^ Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (April 25, 2006). Northern Region General Log (PDF). Routes 153000 (Elliott Highway), 152000 (Steese Highway), 190000 (Richardson Highway), and 180000 (Alaska Highway).[permanent dead link]
- ^ "National Register Information System – (#13000543)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- )
- ^ "NRHP listing for Alaska-Canada Military Highway". National Park Service. July 31, 2013. Archived from the original on July 7, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
- ^ "NRHP nomination for Alaska-Canada Military Highway (Segment)" (PDF). National Park Service. July 31, 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 7, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
External links
- The short film Alaska Highway is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
- Alaska Highway – A Yukon perspective – From the Yukon Archives
- Alaska Highway Driving Facts – From the authors of the Milepost
- Bell's Alaska – mile by mile description of the Alaska Highway
- Building the Alaska Highway Archived May 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine – Companion Website for the PBS program.
- Alcan-Highway.com – U.S. Army 95th Engineer Regiment (Colored) building the Alcan Highway
- Forgotten Facts About the African American Engineers Who Worked on the Alaska-Canada Highway Archived June 25, 2016, at the Wayback Machine – An article describing contributions made by the four African American regiments of the US Army Corps of Engineers that worked on the ALCAN Project
- Shortcut To Tokyo, September 1942 one of the earliest articles on the Alaskan Highway
- Many Wonders (but Few Amenities) on a Legendary Highway July 23, 2012 The New York Times
- American Society of Civil Engineers - International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark
- "When Americans Built a Road Across Canada". Canadiana – via YouTube