Steese Highway
The Steese Highway is a major road in the US state of Alaska , which connects Fairbanks in the Interior with Circle on the Yukon , 80 km south of the Arctic Circle, over a length of 261 km . The highway was completed in 1927 and named after James G. Steese , a former US Army general and chairman of the Alaska Road Commission . Originally, the highway was built to provide a supply route into the Circle Mining District , which was the center of Alaska's gold mining in the 1890s until the Klondike gold was discovered.
The first 71 km from Fairbanks are paved, then the road becomes a gravel road. The highway runs through the White Mountains , a mountain range of the Tanana Hills . The southwestern part of the highway runs along the Chatanika River . About halfway is the headwaters of Birch Creek , a Wild and Scenic River that flows into the Yukon. He reaches the highest point at Eagle Summit (1105 m). The White Mountains National Recreation Area is accessible by highway.
The Steese Highway is part of Alaska Route 2 for the first 17 km from Fairbanks to the junction with Elliott Highway at Fox , the rest of the way to Circle is Alaska Route 6 .
