Haines Highway

The Haines Highway or Haines Cut-Off (and still often called Haines Road) is a highway that connects Haines, Alaska, in the United States, with Haines Junction, Yukon, Canada, passing through the province of British Columbia. It follows the route of the old Dalton Trail from the port of Haines inland for about 180 km (110 mi) to Klukshu, Yukon, and then continues to Haines Junction. The highway is about 244 km (152 mi) long, of which 72 km (45 mi) is in Alaska.

This article is about the section of Alaska Route 7 between Canada and Haines, Alaska. For the entire route, see Alaska Route 7.

Alaska Route 7 marker

Yukon Highway 3 marker

Haines Highway

Alaska Route 7
Yukon Highway 3
Haines Highway highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by Alaska DOT&PF, Yukon DOH&PW
Length147.9 mi[1] (238.0 km)
AK-7: 39.7 mi (63.9 km)
YT-3: 174.1 km (108.2 mi)
Major junctions
South end Alaska Marine Highway in Haines
North end Hwy 1 (Alaska Highway) in Haines Junction, YT
Location
CountryUnited States
StateAlaska
Highway system
    ← AK-6Alaska Highway 7 shield→ AK-8
    ← Hwy 2Yukon Highway 3 shield→ Hwy 4
    Mile 8 - Mt. Emmerich and the Chilkat River
    Mile 46 in British Columbia
    The Chilkat Pass

    The highway was known as Yukon Highway 4 until 1978, when it was renumbered Highway 3. It has no number in British Columbia, but editions of The Milepost up to at least 2004 list it as Hwy 4, a number actually in use on Vancouver Island. The Alaska section is part of Alaska Route 7.

    History

    The route was originally a trail used by Chilkat Tlingit traders, which eventually became the Dalton Trail. It was used by some prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898-1899; other mining kept the lower Dalton Trail active through the years following its establishment. The British Columbia provincial government converted its portion of the trail to a wagon road in 1909 when copper mining began at Copper Butte and Mt. Glave. In 1911, 30 tons of ore were shipped from the mines.

    The highway was built by the U.S. Army in 1943 as an alternate route from the Pacific Ocean to the Alaska Highway, in case the White Pass and Yukon Route railway from Skagway should be blocked. The total cost of the construction was US$13 million.

    In the first decades after the war, maintenance was spotty at best; the road was plagued with blizzards in winter and mudslides in summer, and for a time in the 1960s and 1970s, all vehicles traveling the highway were monitored on radio. Year-round access was not achieved until 1963.

    Complaints over the condition of the road, primarily in Alaska, led to the U.S. Congress-funded Shakwak reconstruction project. This project, covering the Haines Highway and the portion of the Alaska Highway from Haines Junction to the U.S. border, began in 1976 and was mostly complete by the 1980s, but is still continuing, providing grade improvements, rerouting of dangerous sections, and paving. Responsibility for maintenance is currently shared between the Alaska and Yukon governments.

    Major intersections
    State / Province / TerritoryLocationkm[1]miDestinationsNotes
    AlaskaHaines0.00.0 Front Street – Haines Ferry TerminalAlaska Marine Highway
    Canada–United States border63.939.7Dalton Cache - Pleasant Camp Border Crossing
    AK-7 northern terminus • Hwy 3 southern terminus
    British Columbia​94.258.5Chilkat Pass – 1,070 m (3,510 ft)
    Yukon​137.985.7British Columbia – Yukon border
    Haines Junction238.0147.9 Hwy 1 (Alaska Highway) /  – Anchorage, Fairbanks, WhitehorseHwy 3 northern terminus
    1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
    •       Route transition

    See also

    References
    1. Google (January 10, 2018). "Haines Highway in AK, BC, and YT" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
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