Alaska Route 1
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by Alaska DOT&PF | ||||
| Length: | 545.92 mi[1] (878.57 km) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end: |
 Alaska Marine Highway in Homer | |||
Kenai Spur Highway in Soldotna AK-9 in Moose PassO'Malley Road in Anchorage  AK-3 near Wasilla AK-4 in Glennallen and Gakona | ||||
| East end: |
 AK-2 at Tok | |||
| Location | ||||
| Boroughs: | Kenai Peninsula, Municipality of Anchorage, Matanuska-Susitna, Unorganized | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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Alaska Route 1 (AK-1) is a state highway in the southern part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It runs from Homer northeast and east to Tok by way of Anchorage. It is the only route in Alaska to contain significant portions of freeway: the Seward Highway in south Anchorage and the Glenn Highway between Anchorage and Palmer.
Route description
AK-1 begins at the Alaska Marine Highway's Homer Ferry Terminal at the tip of Homer Spit just south of the end of the Sterling Highway in Homer. It follows the entire Sterling Highway through Soldotna to the junction with the Seward Highway north of Seward, where it meets the north end of AK-9. There it turns north and follows the Seward Highway to its end in Anchorage, and follows the one-way pairs of Ingra and Gambell Streets and 6th and 5th Avenues, continuing east on 5th Avenue to the beginning of the Glenn Highway. AK-1 follows the entire length of the Glenn Highway, passing the south end of the George Parks Highway (AK-3) near Wasilla and meeting the Richardson Highway (AK-4) near Glennallen. A short concurrency north along AK-4 takes AK-1 to the Tok Cut-Off, which it follows northeast to its end at the Alaska Highway (AK-2) at Tok.[2][3]
The majority of AK-1 is part of the Interstate Highway System; only the route between Homer and Soldotna does not carry an unsigned Interstate designation. The entire length of A-3 follows AK-1 from the Kenai Spur Highway in Soldotna to the turn in downtown Anchorage; there A-1 begins, running to Tok along AK-1. (A-1 continues to the Yukon border along AK-2, the Alaska Highway.)[4][5] Only a short portion of the Seward Highway south of downtown Anchorage and a longer portion of the Glenn Highway northeast to AK-3 are built to freeway standards; the proposed Highway to Highway Connection would link these through downtown.
Major intersections
All exits are unnumbered.
| Borough | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kenai Peninsula | Homer Spit | 0.00 | 0.00 | Land's End Resort | Beginning of state maintenance |
| 0.09 | 0.14 | Ferry Terminal Road — Homer Ferry Terminal | |||
| Homer | Kachemak Drive | To Homer Airport | |||
| Soldotna | 81.03 | 130.41 | Kenai Spur Highway north — Kenai | ||
| Moose Pass | 138.18 | 222.38 | AK-9 south (Seward Highway) – Seward | Alaska Route 1 takes on the Seward Highway name going north | |
| Municipality of Anchorage | 179.72 | 289.23 | Portage Glacier Highway — Whittier | ||
| South end of freeway | |||||
| 218.39 | 351.46 | 154th Avenue | |||
| 218.81 | 352.14 | Old Seward Highway / Rabbit Creek Road | |||
| 219.37 | 353.04 | DeArmoun Road | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | ||
| 220.48 | 354.83 | Huffman Road | |||
| 221.45 | 356.39 | O'Malley Road | |||
| 222.96 | 358.82 | Dimond Boulevard | |||
| 223.66 | 359.95 | 76th Avenue | Southbound exit only | ||
| 224.46 | 361.23 | Dowling Road | Exits to barbell roundabout interchange | ||
| 225.46 | 362.84 | Tudor Road | |||
| 226.01 | 363.73 | 36th Avenue | |||
| North end of freeway | |||||
| 20th Avenue | |||||
| North end of Seward Highway, begin Gambell Street / Ingra Street one-way pair | |||||
| 228.00 | 366.93 | 5th Avenue / 6th Avenue | AK-1 turns onto 6th Avenue / off of 5th Avenue | ||
| 229.37 | 369.14 | Airport Heights Drive / Mountain View Drive | |||
| South end of Glenn Highway and freeway section | |||||
| 230.04 | 370.21 | Bragaw Street | |||
| 231.08 | 371.89 | Boniface Parkway / Mountain View Drive — Elmendorf AFB | |||
| 231.84 | 373.11 | Turpin Street | Northbound exit and entrance | ||
| 232.66 | 374.43 | Muldoon Road | Partial cloverleaf interchange, DDI construction in progress | ||
| 234.22 | 376.94 | Arctic Valley Road | Northbound exit only | ||
| 235.71 | 379.34 | Fort Richardson, Arctic Valley | Via D Street | ||
| 239.70 | 385.76 | Eagle River Loop Road / Hiland Road | |||
| 241.45 | 388.58 | Eagle River | Via Old Glenn Highway | ||
| 243.30 | 391.55 | North Eagle River | Via North Eagle River Access Road | ||
| 245.31 | 394.79 | South Birchwood | Via South Birchwood Loop Road | ||
| 248.73 | 400.29 | North Birchwood | Via Birchwood Loop Road | ||
| 249.73 | 401.90 | Peters Creek | Via Voyles Boulevard | ||
| 250.75 | 403.54 | North Peters Creek | Via Lake Hill Drive | ||
| 252.03 | 405.60 | Mirror Lake | Via Old Glenn Highway / Paradis Lane | ||
| 253.17 | 407.44 | Thunderbird Falls | Via Denaina Elders Road; Northbound exit and entrance | ||
| 254.05 | 408.85 | Eklutna | Via Eklutna Village Road | ||
| 257.57 | 414.52 | Old Glenn Highway | |||
| Matanuska-Susitna | | 259.06 | 416.92 | Knik River Access | |
| Palmer | 263.32 | 423.77 | AK-3 north (George Parks Highway) – Wasilla, Fairbanks | Southern terminus of Alaska Route 3 / George Parks Highway | |
| North end of freeway | |||||
| Palmer-Wasilla Highway / Evergreen Ave | |||||
| Unorganized | Glennallen | 409.54 | 659.09 | AK-4 south (Richardson Highway) – Valdez | South end of concurrency with Alaska Route 4 & Richardson Highway |
| Gakona | 423.54 | 681.62 | AK-4 north (Richardson Highway) – Fairbanks | North end of concurrency with Alaska Route 4 & Richardson Highway | |
| Tok | 545.92 | 878.57 | AK-2 (Alaska Highway) – Fairbanks, International Border | Northern terminus of Alaska Route 1 | |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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Tok Cut-Off
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|---|---|
| Location: | Gakona Junction—Tok |
| Length: | 125 mi (201 km) |
| Existed: | c. 1940–present |
The Tok Cut-Off is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska, running 125 miles (201 km) from Gakona Junction (on the Richardson Highway, 14 miles (23 km) north of Glennallen), to Tok on the Alaska Highway.
The road was built in the 1940s and 1950s to connect Tok more directly with the Richardson Highway. It was called a "cut-off" because it allowed motor travelers coming north on the Alaska Highway to travel to Valdez and Anchorage without going to Delta Junction and then traveling south on the Richardson Highway, taking 120 miles (190 km) off the trip.
The 2002 Denali earthquake caused significant damage to the Cut-Off, particularly between mileposts 75 and 83 where major cracks and embankment slumping left the roadway fundamentally destroyed.[6][7]
See also
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Alaska portal -
U.S. Roads portal
References
- 1 2 Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Central Region General Log, April 25, 2006 (Routes 110000 (Sterling Highway), 130000 (Seward Highway), 134150 (Ingra Street), 134600 (6th Avenue), 134440 (5th Avenue), and 135000 (Glenn Highway))
Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Northern Region General Log, April 25, 2006 (Routes 135000 (Glenn Highway), 190000 (Richardson Highway), and 230000 (Tok Cut-Off Highway)) - ↑ Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, National Highway System Maps, April 2006
- ↑ Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Alaska Traffic Manual Supplement, January 17, 2003
- ↑ Federal Highway Administration, National Highway System Viewer, accessed August 2007
- ↑ Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Dwight D. Eisenhower Interstate Routes, April 2006
- ↑ Mark Yashinsky, ed. (2004). Denali, Alaska, Earthquake of November 3, 2002. Reston, VA: ASCE, TCLEE. ISBN 9780784407479.
- ↑ Kagachi, Chihiro (2010). Last Frontier: A History of Alaska. London: Penguin.
External links
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Media related to Alaska Route 1 at Wikimedia Commons