# Is Cecil correct that there's no Interstate Highways in Alaska? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013 "2012-03-16T23:34:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/1 "2012-03-16T23:34:29Z")
No Interstate highway in Alaska? That really true? I’m putting this in GQ because I’m not questioning the column’s answer about Hawaii. > [@](#): > > Three routes were subsequently approved and built, with the result that Hawaii now has more miles of interstate than Delaware (48 vs. 40.6). Meanwhile, Alaska, despite its unquestionable location on the mainland, has no miles of interstate at all and has to struggle along with dogsleds and snowshoes. > **[How can there be interstate highways … in Hawaii?](https://www.straightdope.com/21341858/how-can-there-be-interstate-highways-in-hawaii)** ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/2 "2012-03-16T23:45:07Z")
I pulled up Map Quest and none of the highways had the red, white, and blue Interstate markers the ones in other states have. I am surprised they haven’t demanded their share of the honey pot. ---
**Author:** ![florez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@florez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/florez)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/3 "2012-03-16T23:46:02Z")
He is right, The Alcan Hwy begins in Dawson Creek NE British Columbia, goes NW through Canada’s Yukon Territory and then into Alaska’s Deta Junction near Fairbanks. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/4 "2012-03-16T23:51:16Z")
> [@thelabdude](#): > > I pulled up Map Quest and none of the highways had the red, white, and blue Interstate markers the ones in other states have. I am surprised they haven’t demanded their share of the honey pot. There are roads designated as interstate highways for funding purposes. They wouldn’t meet the definition of a highway by the feds but Alaska still wanted a share of the funds. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/5 "2012-03-17T00:09:01Z")
Looks like they’re trying to create an Interstate from crappy two lane highways. > [@](#): > > They follow various combinations of Alaska Routes, which generally fail to meet Interstate Highway standards, being for the most part two-lane rural highways without controlled access. The federal government established the classification of these roads as Interstate Highways, primarily for funding purposes. Limited-access freeways exist only within and near Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Wasilla. > **[List of Interstate Highways in Alaska](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highways_in_Alaska)** > > The Interstate Highways in Alaska are all owned and maintained by the US state of Alaska. The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF) is responsible for the maintenance and operations of the Interstate Highways. The Interstate Highway System in Alaska comprises four highways that cover 1,082.22 miles (1,741.66 km). The longest of these is Interstate A-1 (A-1), at 408.23 miles (656.98 km) long, while the shortest route is A-3, at 148.12 miles (238.38 km) long. All Inte... ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/6 "2012-03-17T00:30:48Z")
Warning: roadgeekery ahead. Alaska has four highways which are officially listed as interstates. A list of them can be found [here](http://www.interstate-guide.com/alaska.html). None of these are actually signed as interstates, however; all of them are signed as Alaska state routes. For the most part none of these roads are Super-2s (divided highways, two lanes each direction, no surface intersections). Essentially the interstate designation in the US has nothing to do with the type of road, but as to the source of its funding. Alaska isn’t the only state with non-Super 2 interstates; Puerto Rico also has them, and there’s even one in Wyoming ([I-180 in Cheyenne](http://www.interstate-guide.com/i-180_wy.html)). Apart from I-180 these routes aren’t signed as interstates. ---
**Author:** ![Tanus\_Barbarus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/13edae/32.png) [@Tanus\_Barbarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanus_Barbarus)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/7 "2012-03-17T00:43:39Z")
There are Interstate highways in Hawaii. I lived there 21 years. Politicians lobbied hard to get them designated as Interstate so they could get a slice of the DOT money allotted for those roads. I drove all of the highways in Hawaii, and I don’t remember ending up in a different state - unless you count stoned… ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/8 "2012-03-17T05:47:28Z")
“Interstate” doesn’t mean “going from one state to another.” It has to do with the creation of the Interstate Highway System during the Eisenhower administration, and along with the birth of these particular highways, there was Federal money AND Federal standards that had to be satisfied in order to GET the money from the US Government. The funding is NOT 100% Federal. The States have to have the design (approved, of course) and part of the money in hand before they get a check from Uncle Sam. The Eisenhower administration wanted these particular highways to satisfy civil defense requirements. Those were the beginning days of the Cold War, when bomb shelters and Emergency Broadcast System tests and Communism and ICBMs were in the forefront. The mess of highways in big cities would only be an impediment to any type of evacuation effort, and big cities were considered to be major targets in the event of nuclear war. The Interstate highways had limited access, a fixed number of ramps in urban areas and a lesser number in rural areas, and were supposed to facilitate the orderly evacuation with enough advanced warning. I’ve also heard that Interstates were designed to have long straight stretches of highway that could be used as emergency take off and landing strips for military planes, if necessary. Supposedly, though, that is just urban legend. Hawaii has populated cities, and it obviously qualified by design and by partial State funding, to obtain Federal funding for Interstates. Alaska seems to have some type of waiver. But the Feds are pretty adamant about the qualifications of any highway that bears the Interstate shield, and until the Alaskan highways meet those qualifications, you won’t see the red, white, and blue Interstate designation in Alaska. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/9 "2012-03-17T05:58:13Z")
I thought a “super-2” was a _two-lane_ limited-access highway: offramps, overpasses, but only one carriageway; often they are upgraded to a four-lane divided highway later by building a second carriageway. ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/10 "2012-03-17T22:13:06Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I thought a “super-2” was a _two-lane_ limited-access highway: offramps, overpasses, but only one carriageway; often they are upgraded to a four-lane divided highway later by building a second carriageway. [Indeed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_two). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/11 "2012-03-17T22:34:48Z")
The only divided highway of any length in Alaska is about 40 miles of the Glenn Highway headed north between Anchorage and the Parks Highway intersection at Palmer, AK. Otherwise, it’s all two lane, head-on road, with brief relief areas at busier tourist attractions and towns. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/12 "2012-03-17T22:52:16Z")
So, the infamous $398 million Bridge to Nowhere would have connected to a 2 lane state highway? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Linden\_Arden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Linden\_Arden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linden_Arden)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2012, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/13 "2012-03-18T02:47:06Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > So, the infamous $398 million Bridge to Nowhere would have connected to a 2 lane state highway? 😉 You betcha! ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2012, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/14 "2012-03-18T03:16:16Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > There are roads designated as interstate highways for funding purposes. They wouldn’t meet the definition of a highway by the feds but Alaska still wanted a share of the funds. Aren’t Alaskan ferry routes also designated an as interstate for funding purposes? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/15 "2012-03-18T04:12:02Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > So, the infamous $398 million Bridge to Nowhere would have connected to a 2 lane state highway? 😉 It would have connected a small town in southeast Alaska that is inaccessible by road from anywhere, to an island where the airport is, but which has no development. It was a boondoggle of huge proportion. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cecil-correct-that-theres-no-interstate-highways-in-alaska/616013/16 "2012-03-18T17:24:43Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > The Eisenhower administration wanted these particular highways to satisfy civil defense requirements. A common misconception. Cross-country and urban superhighways had been under study since the 1920s, and got a big push after the 1940 opening of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. FDR himself sketched a network, and the general corridors for the original interstate system had largely been determined before the end of World War II, in plans such as Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of public roads. _Toll roads and free roads._ House Document No. 272. 76th Congress, 1st Session. Washington, U. S. Govt. print. off., 1939. _Interregional Highways._ House Document No. 379. 78th Congress, 2nd Session. Washington, U. S. Govt. print. off., 1944. Throughout the years of congressional debate, military strategists repeatedly testified that they didn’t need any particular routes or geometric specifications, always saying that highways built to promote commerce would also serve their needs. To Eisenhower, the public-works and job-creation aspects of the system were about as important as defense aspects. I am not aware of any serious civil defense or military rationale that was part of Congressional debate. The words “and Defense” were added to the name of the “National System of Interstate Highways” in conference committee, almost as an afterthought, and played no role in congressional voting. See _Congressional Record,_ 102, Part 8, pp. 10991-10997. The definitive source on this history is Rose, Mark H. _Interstate: Express Highway Politics, 1939-1989._ University of Tennessee Press, rev. ed. 1990.