Roads |thumb|250px Alaska's climate and geography provide significant challenges to building and maintaining roads. Mountain ranges,
permafrost, long distances between small population centers, and the cost of transporting materials all add to the costs and challenges of Alaska's road system. Many of the northern highways have tighter weight restrictions during spring, where axle load limits can be reduced by as much as 20% due to seasonally soft ground. Alaska is arguably the least-connected U.S. state in terms of road transportation. Its road system covers a relatively small area of the state, linking the central population centers and the
Alaska Highway, the principal route out of the state through
Canada. The state capital,
Juneau, is not accessible by road, which has spurred several debates over the decades about moving the capital to a city on the road system. One unique feature of the road system is the
Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, which links the
Seward Highway south of Anchorage with the relatively isolated community of
Whittier. The tunnel held the title of the longest road tunnel in North America (at nearly ) until completion of the
Interstate 93 tunnel as part of the "
Big Dig" project in
Boston, Massachusetts. The tunnel retains the title of the longest combination road and rail tunnel in North America. Vehicles are transported to and from many coastal communities only by boat.
Trails Winter Trails The State and local boroughs maintain about of winter trails throughout the northern and western regions. The trails often follow paths laid out by indigenous people, and the network stretches along the coast from
Norton Sound to the
Beaufort Sea. Trails reach the interior along the
Yukon,
Koyukuk, and
Kobuk rivers. In 2004, the
State Department of Transportation worked with local partners to provide wayfinding in the form of tripods made of tall reflective stakes, able to be placed each season when the ground freezes enough to allow passage. It intended to place these tripods at least every . In addition to refuge cabins maintained along the route in case of emergency, the tripods can be used for basic shelter with the addition of a tarpaulin. Winter trails are established every winter after the ground freezes and contain three categories: •
Winter Trails are unimproved trails suitable for dog sleds or snowmachines. The trails are marked with blazes and signs where tall vegetation allows, or tripods and plastic stakes when there is no tall vegetation. •
Snow Roads are routes constructed of packed snow that is suitable for dog sleds, snowmachines, and 4WD vehicles traveling in a convoy. The
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and
Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are experimenting with whether snow roads can be expanded under specific, structured conditions in a way that protects the fragile tundra environment. These roads have been popularized by the reality TV show
Ice Road Truckers.
Iditarod Trail System The
Iditarod National Historic Trail (not to be mistaken for the
race of the same name) is a network of roughly of trail stretching from Seward in the southeast to Nome in the northwest. The trail began as a composite of trails established by Alaskan native peoples. During the Gold Rush era from the 1890s to the 1920s, it connected a string of mines, trading posts, and settlements, for which it was declared a
National Historic Trail in 1978.
RS 2477 The
Revised statute 2477 of 1866 was passed to allow for the development of the Western states. It states that "the right-of-way for the construction of highways across public lands not otherwise reserved for public purposes is hereby granted," with no requirements for a survey or a recorded decision creating the road. RS 2477 was repealed in 1976, but the access it provided across Federally owned land was not rescinded. Access to trails across what was at the time Federal lands can be retained as public highways. Since most land title in Alaska was held by the Federal Government before the passage of the
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1977, RS277 trails now cross public and private lands and remain vital to transportation within Alaska. The DNR actively researches and pursues historical trail use to assert public access to RS 2477 trails. Most passengers use the Alaska Railroad for seasonal recreational use.
White Pass and Yukon The
White Pass and Yukon Route was established in 1898 between
Skagway and Whitehorse. Originally built for the
Klondike Gold Rush, it was not completed before the rush died down. In 1988 the railroad was reopened as a passenger-only line catering to tourists, traveling to Lake Bennet and back, using vintage parlor cars. In 2015 the line carried 401,905 passengers on an excursion to the summit and back.
Potential connections with Canada The idea of a
Canada–Alaska Railway has been discussed and studied for years. In 2005, a joint study funded by Alaska and the Yukon found that such a railroad would cost US$11 Billion to build, but could increase the GDP of Alaska and Canada by approximately US$170 Billion.
Bus Nearly all larger cities and boroughs across the state operate local
bus systems, including Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan and Bethel. While
Greyhound does not operate in Alaska, numerous private bus companies in the state offer regional bus service, with Anchorage and Fairbanks as the primary hub cities. ==Marine transport==