The Alaska Highway, also "Alaskan Highway", "Alaska-Canadian Highway", "Al-Can Highway", runs from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Fairbanks, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon. It is 2,451 kilometres or 1,523 mile(s) long. The historic ending of the highway is near milepost 1422, where it meets the Richardson Highway in Delta Junction, Alaska, about 100 miles (160km) southeast of Fairbanks. Mileposts on the Richardson Highway are numbered from Valdez, Alaska.

The road was originally built mostly by the US Army as a supply route during World War II. Although it was completed on October 28, 1942 and its completion was celebrated on that November 21, the "highway" was not usable by general vehicles until 1943. The Canada government purchased the highway from the US government shortly after the war for more than $100 million. However, the highway needed considerable reconstruction to make it usable and was only opened to unrestricted traffic in 1947. The Alaska Highway is now completely paved.

The Milepost, an extensive guide book to the Alaska Highway and other highways in Alaska and Northwest Canada, was first published in 1949 and continues to be published annually as the foremost guide to travelling the highway.

The portion of the Alaska Highway in Alaska is Alaska State Highway 2. In the Yukon, it is Highway 1 and in British Columbia, BC provincial highway 97.

Adjoining roads

Other roads that join the Alaska Highway include, from South to North:

• British Columbia
  • Hudson's Hope Highway
  • Liard Highway

• Yukon
  • Campbell Highway
  • Cassiar Highway
  • Canol Road
  • Atlin Road
  • Tagish Road
  • Klondike Highway
  • Haines Highway

• Alaska
  • Taylor Highway
  • Glenn Highway

See Also

• List of Alaska state highways
• List of Canadian highways by province

de:Alaska Highway