Alaska Highway

The Alaska Highway, aka ALCAN, was constructed in WW II to connect Alaska by road to the contiguous USA.

US proposals for a road were already made in 1920 but Canada did not see the necessity at that time since the area was sparsely populated. Later they warmed up to the idea but harsh economic times prohibited allocation of any money.

The attack on Pearl Harbor changed everything, money was suddenly no issue and, fearing a Japanese invasion, both countries agreed to build the road ASAP .

The Japanese navy did bomb and invade Alaska but never made it further than 2 small Aleutian islands.

The road was an engineering challenge because of the very rugged terrain and a hostile climate.

In 1942 it took the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers only 8 months to construct a basic road from Dawson Creek in British Columbia to Delta Junction in Alaska.

With a total length of 2700 km the highway was long touted as a challenge to man and machine, but since the 1960's the road is mostly paved and easy to drive.

The Milepost is the unofficial but indispensable tour book for those traveling the Alaska Highway.

Doing the ALCAN had always been high on our bucket-list and in 2007 we could check it off after driving this famous road al the way from Prince George to Fairbanks.

At Haines Junction we made a detour to visit the historic stampeder towns Haines and Skagway.