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Whittier access road
photos
These eleven photos, from my summer 2001 vacation, cover the toll tunnel and access road connecting the Seward Highway (part of Alaska state route 1), at the east end of Turnagain Arm, to the port of Whittier at the west end of Prince William Sound. This unnumbered state-maintained highway, about 11 miles long, was completed in 2000 (the westernmost five miles were built much earlier, to provide access to Portage Lake). It is most famous for the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, originally constructed as a one-track rail tunnel during World War II. The new highway project included conversion of that tunnel to a combined auto/rail tunnel, with carefully-controlled alternating phases for eastbound cars and trucks, westbound cars and trucks, and trains (on a pair of rails embedded in the new roadway). The tunnel is now the longest auto tunnel in North America, 2.5 miles long. Also part of the new highway is a short two-lane tunnel under Begich Peak, at mile 5.3 (from the Seward Highway), west of the toll booths for the Anton Anderson tunnel. Before the new highway was completed, travelers wishing to take their cars to Whittier from Anchorage or the Kenai Peninsula had to use an Alaska Railroad shuttle train to take them and their cars between Whittier and the Seward Highway. Whittier itself is pretty industrial-grade, and tourists go there mainly to catch one of the Alaska Marine Highway ferries serving Prince William Sound (Whittier is the AMH port closest to Anchorage), or a cruise around the sound. But the Anton Anderson tunnel and the access road are treats in their own right. See the tunnel's official website for more details such as tolls (starting at $12, charged eastbound only), the time slots when the tunnel will be open to traffic headed your way, and also lots more photos (including some I couldn't take, such as construction photos and others taken inside the tunnel). NOTE: In case you want more detail, you can click any photo below to view an enlarged, higher-quality (less .jpg compression) version. Those alternate versions have larger file sizes, so please be patient while they download.
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Alaska Roads main page (still under construction as of October 2007, but has some useful information and links) Questions, comments? Please e-mail me. © Oscar Voss 2001, 2004, 2006-2007. |