Alaska Road Commission

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Map of Alaska with the Alaska Road Commission laid out and planned roads, paths, and railroads, circa 1920
Alaska Road Commission workers building the Valdez Trail

The Alaska Road Commission (ARC) was a commission in Alaska that was responsible for developing the road system there.

history

The gold rush on the Klondike River in the Canadian Yukon Territory at the end of the 19th century gave rise to calls for a land connection on US soil from the ice-free ports in southern Alaska to the Yukon River . Possible routes through the valleys of the Susitna , Matanuska and Copper Rivers were examined . The Valdez Trail was finally created along the Copper River from 1899 . A few years later, the Senate commissioned the Department of War to upgrade the route system in Alaska and the Valdez Trail to a road usable by vehicles. the Congressarranged the financing and set up the Alaska Road Commission , which was responsible for overseeing the construction and maintenance of the roads and paths. The main task of the commission was initially the construction of a path from the Valdez Trail near Gakona to Fairbanks .

The ARC was responsible for road construction in the Tongass and Chugach National Forest until 1922 . The Bureau of Public Roads, subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture, then took over this task.

Between 1905 and 1932, the ARC built 1,980 km of new roads, 120 km of railway lines, 2,400 km of toboggan runs, 7,615 km of paths, 530 km of temporary paths, 26 landing sites and 32 shelters with a total value of over 18 million US dollars.

With the beginning of the Second World War, the strategic importance of Alaska grew. The ARC built the Glenn Highway between Richardson Highway and Anchorage in 1941 to connect the air bases in Fairbanks and Anchorage. Between May and November 1942, a 3065 km long land link was built from Dawson Creek in British Columbia to Delta Junction in Alaska. After the end of the war, this road was expanded by the ARC and Canadian authorities and opened to the public as the Alaska Highway in 1948 .

In 1956 the Alaska Road Commission was integrated into the Bureau of Public Roads . This gave Alaska funds from the Federal Aid Highway Act .

literature

  • Claus-M. Naske: Paving Alaska's Trails: The Work of the Alaska Road Commission . Univ. P. of America, 1987, ISBN 0-8191-5577-2 .

Web links

Commons : Alaska Road Commission  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files