Statewide Transportation Considerations

Moving people and materials around Alaska requires some care in planning, because the transportation options are often limited. The major routes of the highway system are shown in the map above; note that western Alaska and southeastern Alaska are essentially unreachable by road. The downrange area of northeastern Alaska also lacks road access, though the Dempster Highway through northwest Canada provides a route to some Canadian observing sites. The Dalton Highway, which follows the Alaska oil pipeline, provides a similar parallel route west of the flight zones.

The map above shows the interior highway system in more detail. Some freight is trucked up the Alaska Highway, but much of the freight bound for the interior is shipped to the port of Anchorage, and trucked to Fairbanks via the Parks Highway. Freight can also be transported from Anchorage to Fairbanks by the Alaska Railroad, whose route approximately follows the Parks Highway.

The primary means of transportation in Alaska is aircraft. Airlines serve the major cities of Alaska, but most of the small towns and villages (including those in the downrange area) rely on small air taxi, freight, and charter companies.

Southeastern Alaska makes extensive use of barge and ferry service, since only three towns in that part of the state (Haines, Skagway, and Hyder) are connected to Alaskan or Canadian highways. The state capital, Juneau, is not accessible by highway. The Alaska Marine Highway operates two ferry networks, one covering southeast Alaska and connecting to Bellingham, Washington, and the other covering southcentral Alaska from Cordova to Dutch Harbor. Barges are also used for moving supplies to interior villages along the major rivers during the summer. Barges carry some freight to the northern coast of Alaska in the summer, but sea ice makes the barge season there very short.

Modified 19 February 1997 by ddr