Richardson Highway

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Richardson Highway
The Thompson Pass over the Chugach Mountains (around 1900)
The first automobile on the Richardson Highway (1913)
Gorge on the Richardson Highway

The Richardson Highway is a major thoroughfare in the US state of Alaska , which connects Valdez on Prince William Sound with Fairbanks in the Interior for a length of 583 km . From Valdez to Delta Junction, the Richardson Highway is Alaska Route 4 , from there to Fairbanks Alaska Route 2 . The highway is named after Wilds P. Richardson , a general in the US Army who led the expansion of the road for horse-drawn vehicles for the Alaska Road Commission in 1910.

history

The Richardson Highway is Alaska's first highway and emerged from the southern part of the Valdez Eagle Trail , which the prospectors used on the way to the Klondike . This trail was laid out in 1899 by the US Army, which had investigated several possible routes to the gold fields on the Yukon and finally implemented the proposal by William R. Abercrombie to create the path from Valdez along the Copper River . Unsuccessful prospectors were hired as construction workers, who were able to earn the money they needed to leave Alaska in this way.

After the gold rush ended, the US Army maintained the trail as a link between Fort Liscum in Valdez and Fort Egbert in Eagle . Gold discoveries at Fairbanks in 1902 and the construction of a telegraph line along the trail in 1903 made it the most important connection into inland Alaska. In the following years it was further expanded. In 1913, a truck could travel an average of about 50 miles a day on the road. In 1919, 90% of all traffic was with motorized vehicles. The Richardson Highway has been paved since 1957.

course

The highway runs from Valdez along the Lowe River and through Keystone Canyon , crosses the Chugach Mountains at Thompson Pass (845 m) and runs parallel to the Copper River to Gakona . From Glennallen to Gakona it unites with the Glenn Highway . In Gakona the Tok Cut-Off branches off to the east and in Paxson the Denali Highway branches off to the west. The Richardson Highway crosses the Alaskan Range at Isabel Pass , the highest point on the road at 914 m, and follows the Tanana River from Delta Junction , the junction with the Alaska Highway , to Fairbanks . The Trans-Alaska Pipeline runs parallel to the highway for long stretches.

Web links

Commons : Richardson Highway  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files