Edgerton Highway

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The Edgerton Highway is a minor highway in the U.S. state of Alaska that extends 33 miles (55 km) from the Richardson Highway near Copper Center to the town of Chitina. The McCarthy Road is a 58-mile (94-km) extension from Chitina to McCarthy.

[edit] Edgerton Highway

The Edgerton Highway, named for U.S. Army Major Glenn Edgerton, a member of the Alaska Territorial Road Commission, follows an old pack trail along the Copper River, and is paved. The popular dip-net salmon fishery in Chitina causes the highway to be fairly heavily used in summer. It is part of Alaska Route 10.

[edit] McCarthy Road

The McCarthy Road is gravel, often very rough, and follows the railbed of the defunct Copper River and Northwestern Railway. It is one of two roads leading to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, though it is not part of the park, and gives access to the abandoned copper mines at Kennicott. The road does not actually lead to Kennicott; visitors must cross the Kennicott River by a footbridge built in the 1990s. Historically, one had to cross the river on a self-propelled tram.

The road was the inspiration for the 2004 book The Road to McCarthy: Around the World in Search of Ireland (ISBN 0-00-716212-X) by Pete McCarthy.