Alaska Highway
Also called: Alaskan Highway · Topic: World Transport and Communication · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 7 "Transport and Communication"
Meaning
The Alaska Highway is a long road that links Canada with Alaska in the USA. NCERT says it runs from Edmonton in Canada to Anchorage in Alaska. Strictly, it runs from Dawson Creek in British Columbia, Canada, to Delta Junction in Alaska. It was built in 1942, during the Second World War, to carry military supplies to Alaska. Today it is an important road link through the remote north-west of North America.
Example
Before the highway, remote Alaska had no road link with the rest of North America. The 1942 road through British Columbia and Yukon gave it an all-land route to Canada and the rest of the USA.
Don't confuse with
- Pan-American Highway: it runs much further, about 30,000 km from Alaska to southern Argentina. It is broken only at the Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia. The Alaska Highway is a shorter road between Canada and Alaska.
Related concepts
- Highway
- Trans-Canada Highway
- Pan-American Highway
- Stuart Highway
- Moscow-Vladivostok Highway
- Chengdu-Lhasa Highway
- Cairo-Cape Town Highway