# Driving to Juneau, Alaska - Can it be done?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 1, 2004, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818 "2004-08-01T05:48:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/1 "2004-08-01T05:48:14Z")
Is it possible to drive to Juneau, Alaska from the lower 48 or does a person have to take a ferry part of the way?
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/2 "2004-08-01T06:04:38Z")
AFAIK, Juneau cannot be reached by a land route by automobile from the Lower 48. You have to either fly or float in.
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/3 "2004-08-01T06:10:00Z")
Mapquest just gave me a route to Juneau from Vancouver that relies on the Juneau Skagway/Haines Ferry. My atlas doesn’t show any land only route.
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### Author:  [@Thaumaturge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thaumaturge)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/4 "2004-08-01T06:10:50Z")
As a related question, just how far north along the pacific coast _can_ you drive before you run out of road?
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/5 "2004-08-01T06:12:00Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> AFAIK, Juneau cannot be reached by a land route by automobile from the Lower 48. You have to either fly or float in.
It can according to [MapQuest](http://www.mapquest.com/directions/main.adp?go=1&1a=&1c=seattle&1s=WA&1z=&1y=US&do=nw&1ex=1&2ex=1&src=maps&ct=NA&2a=&2c=Juneau&2s=AK&2z=&2y=US&2pn=&2l=hRHGOwT%2bC4c%3d&2g=W035AWKTIhBcTEfpmASbHw%3d%3d&2v=CITY&2pl=). There does, however, appear to be a shortish ferry trip involved near Juneau proper. I chose a route from Seattle WA as the stating point, being the closest major city in the lower 48.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/6 "2004-08-01T06:24:04Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#):
>
> There does, however, appear to be a shortish ferry trip involved near Juneau proper.
That’s what I mean…eventually you have to float, if even for a short way. 😃
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/7 "2004-08-01T06:28:15Z")
> [@Thaumaturge](#):
>
> As a related question, just how far north along the pacific coast _can_ you drive before you run out of road?
Depends on how you define “along the coast.” There is not a whole lot of road along the coast much above Vancouver, BC. You can make it as far as Powell River (50 miles or so from Vancouver) and that’s it. Lots of settlements on the coast, but you have to get there some other way than by road.
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### Author:  [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/8 "2004-08-01T12:55:48Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#):
>
> There does, however, appear to be a shortish ferry trip involved near Juneau proper.
That depends upon your definition of “shortish.” The ferry from Haines to Juneau is a good 75 mile trip, and takes about 5 hours. If you take the shortest highway route, you end up taking the ferry from Skagway to Juneau (via Haines), which is closer to 90 miles, and about 6 hours.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/9 "2004-08-01T14:20:39Z")
There is no road to Juneau. If our moron senator gets his way, however, that could change, as he wants to build a road from Juneau to Skagway. Bad idea.
As mentioned, you can drive to Haines or Skagway via the Alcan Highway, then take the ferry to Juneau, but it’s several hours. The drive from WA to either town is several days.
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### Author:  [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/10 "2004-08-01T15:11:46Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> There is no road to Juneau. If our moron senator gets his way, however, that could change, as he wants to build a road from Juneau to Skagway. Bad idea.
For those of us in more temperate climes, why is this a bad idea?
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/11 "2004-08-01T16:10:00Z")
First of all, such a highway is modern day pyramid building and nothing more. Just a way to waste a lot of public money for no real economic benefit in order to glorify public officials. It would be the Senator Cheops Memorial Highway.
Secondly, the upkeep costs and snow clearing would be horrendous. More $ down the drain. It couldn’t possibly be open year round, so the ferry services would still have to be maintained, and then subsidized for the slightly lesser amount of business they would do in the summer. In business terminology, this is called a “lose-lose situation”.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/12 "2004-08-01T16:20:19Z")
One wonders why the heck have a city like Juneau as the state capital at all. There was a book quite a few years ago titled _Coming into the Country_ that described the search for a new Alaskan capital. What ever happened to that idea? Have Alaskans given up on siting a capital in the main part of the state? Somewhere between Anchorage and Fairbanks, IIRC.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/13 "2004-08-01T16:35:27Z")
Wellllllll…as far as that goes, when I was still living in Anchorage, we voted to move the capital to someplace reasonable. Problem is, the State Legislature refuses to allocate **any** money for such a move. So they sit in Juneau. :smack:
They do things like this:
\*\*AS 44.06.055. \*\* Relocation Expenditures.
_State money may be expended to relocate physically the capital or the legislature from the present location only after a majority of those voting in a statewide election have approved a bond issue that includes all bondable costs to the state of the relocation of a functional state legislature or capital to the new site over the twelve-year period following such approval. The commission established in AS 44.06.060 shall determine all bondable costs and total costs including, but not limited to, the costs of moving personnel and offices to the relocation site; the social, economic, and environmental costs to the present and relocation sites; and the costs to the state of planning, building, furnishing, using, and financing facilities at least equal to those provided by the present capital city._
In 1982,when the people were asked if they wanted to spend the money to relocate (estimated to total $2,843,147,000) they voted it down.
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/14 "2004-08-01T19:12:23Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Depends on how you define “along the coast.” There is not a whole lot of road along the coast much above Vancouver, BC. You can make it as far as Powell River (50 miles or so from Vancouver) and that’s it. Lots of settlements on the coast, but you have to get there some other way than by road.
Checking the maps, I see two gaps in the roads between Vancouver and Powell River, one along the north side of Howe Sound and the other at Jervis Inlet. So you can’t even drive there without using ferries (assuming there are ferries, I don’t see any marked on the map).
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/15 "2004-08-01T19:18:02Z")
How passable are the roads to Skagway and Haines? Do you need a 4-wheel drive or can ordinary cars make it? Are the roads only open in summer?
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/16 "2004-08-01T19:28:47Z")
The roads are open only in summer, IIRC, but are capable of being driven by cars. 4wheel isn’t needed, although it can be handy. I drove the Alcan in a Nissan pickup, and my folks drove it in a Ford LTD. The rest of the roads are comparable, I think. I know the one into Haines is.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/17 "2004-08-01T21:41:06Z")
**ftg** : Good answer. Couldn’t have said it better myself. Add to the equation that folks in Juneau don’t want all that rubber traffic coming into town. The streets are very narrow and the place is built on the side of a mountain. There are NO RV lots in Juneau and the local government won’t allow any to be built.
**The Capital:** Moving the capital has been voted on and approved numerous times. The cost is prohibitive and the taxpayers won’t approve the bond issues in order to fund it (it’s all part of the pervasive ‘gimme something for nothing, but no goldurn gubmint interference’ mentality that seems to have taken over here).
**Skagway and Haines:** The roads are perfectly fine. You don’t need a 4-wheel drive for any part of it, nor on the Alcan. All three are paved roads. The scenery alone is worth the drive.
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/18 "2004-08-02T01:50:37Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> In 1982,when the people were asked if they wanted to spend the money to relocate (estimated to total $2,843,147,000) they voted it down.
2.8-billion dollars? How many files do they have?
DD
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### Author:  [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/19 "2004-08-02T02:38:18Z")
> [@DesertDog](#):
>
> 2.8-billion dollars? How many files do they have?
>
> DD
Moving the files ain’t so easy when you’re talking about a city with no road access. No big trucks in or out. Then there’s the cost of moving the people. People who might have trouble selling their houses, and therefore will need financial assistance.
On top of all that, the statute that **silenus** dug up for us makes it clear that the costs to be considered also have to include “social, economic, and environmental costs,” which could include damn near anything. For starters, the economic loss to Juneau of having the state government move out would be one hell of a hit. Juneau is really just a small town, and the state government operations there probably constitute a major portion of its economic activity.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-to-juneau-alaska-can-it-be-done/257818/20 "2004-08-02T02:45:49Z")
No kidding. In reality, you are talking about starting a whole new city from scratch. Think of it as picking up Juneau and setting it down in Willow.
How much did Brasilia cost, adjusted for inflation?
Of course with modern electronics and the Internet, having the reps down in Juneau isn’t such a big deal. It keeps them from underfoot, and you don’t have to look at them except in an election year, but you can still yell at them anytime you want! 😃
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