List of Alaska Routes
Shields for Alaska Routes | |
Highway names | |
---|---|
Interstates: | Interstate A-n (A-n) |
State: | Alaska Route n (AK-n) |
System links | |
Alaska Routes are both numbered and named. There have been only twelve numbers issued (1 through 11 and 98), and the numbering often has no obvious pattern. For example, Alaska Route 4 runs north and south, whereas Alaska Route 2 runs largely east and west, but runs north and south passing through and to the north of Fairbanks. The Klondike Highway, built in 1978, was unnumbered until 1998, when it was given its designation during the centennial of the Klondike Gold Rush. However, many Alaskan highways of greater length than the Klondike Highway remain unnumbered.
Non-contiguous
Highways 7 and 10 consist of multiple separately named segments that do not physically approach each other, unless the Alaska Marine Highway System ferries as part of Alaska Route 7, and former Copper River and Northwestern Railway track bed as part of Alaska Route 10, are included.
Names versus numbers
Numbers and names do not always coincide well. Alaska Route 1 can refer to any of the Glenn Highway, Seward Highway, Sterling Highway, or Tok Cut-Off; meanwhile, portions of the Seward Highway are numbered Alaska Route 1, 9 and Interstate A3. (Interstate highway shields are not posted along highways in Alaska; these designations occur only on paper.)
Within Alaska, roads are almost invariably referred to by name or general destination, and not by number(s). Many residents are unfamiliar with official highway numbers even for those highways that they use frequently. Visitors are usually advised to avoid using highway numbers in asking for directions.
Mileposts
Mileposts, frequently used for road markers and official addressing in rural areas, are also more commonly reckoned by landmark names.
Highways by number
Highways by name
Many roads in Alaska are not numbered at all; a few of these are listed below in addition to those above.
Name | Number(s) | Route |
---|---|---|
Alaska Highway | Alaska Route 2, U.S. Route 97 | Canada–United States border to Delta Junction |
Alaska Marine Highway | AMHS | SouthEast: Bellingham, Washington to Prince Rupert, British Columbia Canada to Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka, Juneau, Haines to Skagway Cross-Gulf: Ketchikan to Juneau to Yakutat to Whittier |
Alaska Peninsula Highway | none | Naknek to King Salmon |
Chena Hot Springs Road | none | Old Steese Highway north of Fairbanks to Chena Hot Springs |
Copper River Highway | Alaska Route 10 | Cordova to north of the Million Dollar Bridge |
Dalton Highway | Alaska Route 11 | Mile 73 (km 118) Elliott Highway (near Livengood) to Deadhorse |
Denali Highway | Alaska Route 8 | Paxson to Cantwell |
Denali Park Road | none | Mile 237 (km 382) Parks Highway (in Denali National Park) to Kantishna |
Douglas Highway | none | Traverses the eastern and northern shores of Douglas Island |
Edgerton Highway | Alaska Route 10 | Mile 83 (km 133) Richardson Highway to Chitina |
Egan Drive | Alaska Route 7 | Downtown Juneau waterfront to intersection with Glacier Highway near the Brotherhood Bridge |
Elliott Highway | Alaska Route 2 | Fox to Manley Hot Springs |
Glenn Highway | Alaska Route 1 | Anchorage to Glennallen |
Haines Highway | Alaska Route 7 | Haines to Canada–United States border |
Hope Highway | none | Mile 57 (km 70) Seward Highway to Hope |
Kenai Spur Highway | none | Soldotna to Captain Cook State Recreation Area near Nikiski |
Klondike Highway | Alaska Route 98 | Skagway to Canada–United States border |
McCarthy Road | none | Chitina to near McCarthy |
Minnesota Drive Expressway | none | Southern and western Anchorage, bisects Spenard |
Johansen Expressway | none | Northern Fairbanks |
Mitkof Highway | Alaska Route 7 | Petersburg to southern Mitkof Island |
Nome-Council Highway | none | Nome to Council |
Nome-Taylor Highway | none | Nome to Taylor |
Nome-Teller Highway | none | Nome to Teller, also called the Bob Blodgett Highway |
Palmer-Wasilla Highway | none | Palmer to Wasilla |
Parks Highway | Alaska Route 3 | Mile 35 (km 56) Glenn Highway to Fairbanks |
Portage Glacier Highway | none | Seward Highway to Whittier |
Richardson Highway | Alaska Route 2, Alaska Route 4 | Valdez to Fairbanks |
Salmon River Road | none | Canada–United States border at Stewart, British Columbia through Hyder and the Tongass National Forest, crosses border again at the abandoned town site of Premier, British Columbia, continues on as Granduc Road to the Salmon Glacier summit viewpoint ending at the Granduc Mine. |
Seward Highway | Alaska Route 1, Alaska Route 9 | Seward to Anchorage |
Steese Highway | Alaska Route 2, Alaska Route 6 | Fairbanks to Circle |
Sterling Highway | Alaska Route 1 | Tern Lake Junction (Mile 37 (km 59) Seward Highway, northwest of Moose Pass) to Homer |
Taylor Highway | Alaska Route 5 | Tetlin Junction (Mile 1301 (km 2093) Alaska Highway) to Eagle |
Tok Cut-Off | Alaska Route 1 | Gakona Junction (Mile 129 (km 207) Richardson Highway) to Tok |
Top of the World Highway | none | Jack Wade Junction (Mile 96 (km 154) Taylor Highway) to Canada–United States border |
Tongass Highway | Alaska Route 7 | Ketchikan north to past Ward Cove and south to past Saxman |
Zimovia Highway | none | Wrangell to McCormick Creek Road |
List of U.S. Highways in Alaska
At one point, the Alaskan portion of the Alaska Highway was proposed to be designated part of U.S. Highway 97, but this was never carried out. Certain prior editions of USGS topographic maps, mostly published during the 1950s, do bear the US 97 highway shield along or near portions of the current Alaska Route 2.
The Alaska Marine Highway and several other Alaska highways or routes are recognized as "highways" eligible for federal funding by the Federal Highway Administration.[4]
Alaska Marine Highway
Alaska's Marine Highway was declared a National Scenic Byway by the Federal Highway Administration on June 13, 2002;[5]
and later declared an All-American Road by the Federal Highway Administration on September 22, 2005.[6]
See also
- List of state highways in the United States
- List of British Columbia provincial highways
- List of Yukon territorial highways
- The Milepost
References
- ↑ "AMHS Routes". Alaska Marine Highway System.
- ↑ "AMHS Running Times". Alaska Marine Highway System.
- ↑ "AMHS Schedules". Alaska Marine Highway System.
- ↑ "Title 23 Section 218 United States Code" (PDF). U.S. Congress.
- ↑ "New 2002 National Scenic Byways". Federal Highway Administration.
- ↑ "New 2005 All-American Roads". Federal Highway Administration.
External links
- "Map of Alaska state highways and numbers" (PDF). from the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities