Dalton Highway

Not to be confused with Dalton Trail.

Dalton Highway
Route information
Maintained by Alaska DOT&PF
Length: 414 mi (666 km)
Existed: 1974 – present
Major junctions
South end: Elliot Highway near Livengood
North end: North Slope Borough near Deadhorse; service road extends to Prudhoe Bay
Highway system

Alaska Routes

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The James W. Dalton Highway, usually Dalton Highway (Alaska Route 11) is a 414-mile[1] (667 km) road in Alaska. It begins at the Elliott Highway, north of Fairbanks, and ends at Deadhorse near the Arctic Ocean and the Prudhoe Bay oil fields. Once called the North Slope Haul Road (a name by which it is still sometimes known), it was built as a supply road to support the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System in 1974. It is named for James Dalton, a lifelong Alaskan and an engineer who supervised construction of the Distant Early Warning Line in Alaska and, as an expert in Arctic engineering, served as consultant in early oil exploration in northern Alaska.[2]

Contents

Overview

The highway, which directly parallels the pipeline, is one of the most isolated roads in the United States. There are only three towns along the route: Coldfoot (population 13) at Mile 175,[3] Wiseman (population 22) at Mile 188,[3] and Deadhorse (25 permanent residents, 3,500-5,000 or more seasonal residents depending on oil production) at the end of the highway at Mile 414.[3] Gas is available at the E. L. Patton Yukon River Bridge (Mile 56), as well as Coldfoot and Deadhorse.[3]

Despite its remoteness the Dalton Highway carries a good amount of truck traffic: about 160 trucks daily in the summer months and 250 trucks daily in the winter.[3] The highway comes to within a few miles of the Arctic Ocean. Beyond the highway's terminus at Deadhorse are private roads owned by oil companies, which are restricted to authorized vehicles only. There are, however, commercial tours that take people to the Arctic Ocean. All vehicles must take extreme precaution when driving on the road, and drive with headlights on at all times. There are quite a few steep grades (up to 12%) along the route, as well.

Truckers on the Dalton have given their own names to its various features, including: The Taps, The Shelf, The Bluffs, Oil Spill, Beaver Slide, Two and a Half Mile, Oh Shit Corner,[4][5] and the Roller Coaster. The road reaches its highest altitude as it crosses the Brooks Range at Atigun Pass.

The highway is the featured road on the third, fourth and fifth seasons of the History reality television series Ice Road Truckers, which aired May 31, 2009 through August 23, 2009. It is also the subject of the second episode of America's Toughest Jobs and the first episode of the BBC's World's Most Dangerous Roads featuring Charley Boorman and Sue Perkins.[6]

Google Street View has recently completed its coverage of nearly the entire highway, which can now be seen on Google Maps (imaging stops at the security gate leading to the Prudhoe Bay oil field). It is one of the most northerly routes of Google street view.

Places along the Dalton Highway

See also

References

  1. ^ "Dalton Highway". United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. http://www.blm.gov/ak/st/en/prog/recreation/dalton_hwy.html. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 
  2. ^ "The Dalton Highway Visitor Guide". Bureau of Land Management. Summer 2009. http://www.alaskageographic.org/uploads/pdf/dalton-vg2009.pdf. Retrieved 6 December 2009. 
  3. ^ a b c d e 2008 edition of The Milepost, pp. 517-529 (Morris Communications Company)
  4. ^ Nephler, Ed (November 3, 2010). "Oh Shit Corner". Blog.dog-berry.com. http://blog.dog-berry.com/index.php/2010/11/03/oh-shit-corner. Retrieved September 5, 2011. 
  5. ^ "Day 8 - The Dalton Highway". Alaskapade.com. June 26, 2011. http://www.alaskapade.com/2011/06/day-8-dalton-highway.html. Retrieved September 5, 2011. 
  6. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b014hnld
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "The Dalton Highway: Visitor Guide" (PDF). U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Summer 2009. http://www.alaskageographic.org/uploads/pdf/dalton-vg2009.pdf. 

External links