Glenn Highway
The
Glenn Highway (part of
Alaska Route 1) is a highway in the
U.S. state of
Alaska, extending 187 miles (301 km) from
Anchorage to
Glennallen on the
Richardson Highway. The
Tok Cut-Off (q.v.) is often considered part of the Glenn Highway, for a total length of 328 miles (528 km).
The highway originated as the Palmer Road in the 1930s, to reach the
agricultural colony at
Palmer. During
World War II it was completed to Glennallen as part of a massive program of
military road and base building that also resulted in the
Alaska Highway, and connected Anchorage to the continental highway system.
It is named for Captain Edwin Glenn, leader of an 1898
U.S. Army expedition to find an Alaska route to the
Klondike gold fields (the eventual
Richardson Highway). The highway was paved in the 1950s.
The Glenn Highway is the only road access to Anchorage for most of the state (with the exception of the
Kenai Peninsula on the
Seward Highway), and as such is the main traffic corridor for Anchorage's
suburbs in the
Eagle River-
Chugiak and
Mat-Su areas. The longest stretch of
freeway in
Alaska runs mostly along the Glenn Highway, beginning in north
Anchorage, continuing onto the
Parks Highway at the
interchange of the two roads, and ending in the city limits of
Wasilla, for a total of approximately 38 miles.
*
Anchorage, mile 0 (km 0)
*
Fort Richardson, mile 7 (km 12)
*
Eagle River, mile 13 (km 22)
*
Chugiak, mile 21 (km 34)
*
Eklutna, mile 26 (km 42)
*
Palmer, mile 42 (km 68)
*
Sutton, mile 61 (km 98)
*
Chickaloon, mile 76 (km 123)
*
Matanuska Glacier, mile 102 (km 164)
*
Glennallen, mile 187 (km 301)
*
Tok Cut-Off*
List of Alaska Routes
