Interstate for Alaska?

[texaskdog]

With the road from Anchorage to Wasila now a freeway, is it not time for Alaska to have a real, signed, interstate highway?  There's I-1!!

[Roadrunner75]

Agreed.  If Hawaii can have them, give Alaska their signed interstate.

[Pete from Boston]

With the road from Anchorage to Wasila now a freeway, is it not time for Alaska to have a real, signed, interstate highway?  There's I-1!!

Get I-3 before it ends up on the wrong coast.

[texaskdog]

It's much longer than many interstates too, like I-2

[hotdogPi]

I-1 on Google

[oscar]

With the road from Anchorage to Wasila now a freeway, is it not time for Alaska to have a real, signed, interstate highway?  There's I-1!!

That freeway has two unsigned Interstate numbers assigned to it -- Interstate A-1 from Anchorage to Palmer (where AK3/Parks Highway peels away from AK1/Glenn Highway), A-4 the rest of the way to Wasilla, with existing A-1 continuing as a non-freeway through Palmer to the Canadian border.  The numbers could be changed to reflect the continuous freeway from Anchorage to Wasilla.  But they would still have an A- rather than an I- prefix, just as Hawaii's Interstates have an H- prefix and Puerto Rico's unsigned route have a PRI- prefix, to reflect that they are separate from the lower-48 Interstate network.

I'm not entirely sure that the A-1 part of that freeway is completely up to Interstate standards, anyway.  For example, there's a segment where a bike trail runs closely parallel to the freeway, separated only by a chain-link fence.  Elsewhere on that segment is an at-grade moose crossing, with apparently not much done to keep the moose off the freeway, so it's up to motorists to avoid collisions, which includes slowing down when moose are on the loose.  The freeway segment of A-3 south of downtown Anchorage might also have issues with Interstate standards compliance, including some very tight exit ramps. 

Most Alaskans have little use for route numbers, rather than route names, anyway.  Alaska DOT&PF puts up a few state route markers for the tourists and/or to satisfy Federal regulators, but the state seems to regard route numbering as a lower-48 thing.  Putting up Interstate markers might just give local hunters new and more challenging targets to shoot up for practice.

[vdeane]

Extend I-11 up over the Alaska Highway and the Dalton. 

[rschen7754]

Yeah, Alaska uses a very name-oriented instead of number-oriented system (similar to Australia); I don't know that adding Interstate shields would really change anything.

[jakeroot]

Saying "take the A1 A4 towards Fairbanks" makes me feel like I'm back in the UK. I say sign it!

[texaskdog]

Yeah, Alaska uses a very name-oriented instead of number-oriented system (similar to Australia); I don't know that adding Interstate shields would really change anything.

when you only have 11 roads

[oscar]

Yeah, Alaska uses a very name-oriented instead of number-oriented system (similar to Australia); I don't know that adding Interstate shields would really change anything.

when you only have 11 roads

Alaska DOT&PF maintains over 1200 roads.  But very few of them get assigned route numbers.  Many significant roads -- including short freeways in Anchorage and Fairbanks, and a few hundred miles of highways radiating from Nome -- are named but not numbered.

[jeffandnicole]

Like Hawaii's H1 Interstate, this can be A1.  Then there can be an alternate route, which can be A1A.

Take that, Florida!

[english si]

Many significant roads -- including short freeways in Anchorage and Fairbanks ... are named but not numbered.

Minnesota Dr -> I-A103?

[doorknob60]

According to Google, this has already happened. Apparently we now have a Western(/Northern) I-4! https://www.google.com/maps/@61.5436417,-149.2803383,13z?hl=en



Out of all the numbers to show up there, I-4 probably makes the least sense, but OK I guess.

[agentsteel53]

is that not interstate A-4 there?

[oscar]

is that not interstate A-4 there?

Only the AK 3 part of the freeway, north of the AK 1/AK 3 junction, is part of Interstate A-4.  The freeway south of the junction, where the marker is placed, is still Interstate A-1. 

Mapmakers keep screwing this up.  The most common mistake is to carelessly assume that the Interstate route number corresponds to the state route number (except for most of Interstate A-1 and all of Interstate A-2, it doesn't).  The next most common is to assume that AK 4 is all Interstate 4 or A-4 (only the short multiplex with AK 1 is Interstate, and there it's part of Interstate A-1). 

[Henry]

Mapmakers keep screwing this up.  The most common mistake is to carelessly assume that the Interstate route number corresponds to the state route number (except for most of Interstate A-1 and all of Interstate A-2, it doesn't).  The next most common is to assume that AK 4 is all Interstate 4 or A-4 (only the short multiplex with AK 1 is Interstate, and there it's part of Interstate A-1). 

Yes, that happens to me all the time. In fact, I used to draw freeways on the AL map of my atlases and label them the same number as their state route counterparts, but with an A immediately before it (just like the H-series in HI).

[Alps]

is that not interstate A-4 there?

Only the AK 3 part of the freeway, north of the AK 1/AK 3 junction, is part of Interstate A-4.  The freeway south of the junction, where the marker is placed, is still Interstate A-1.

Look again. The marker is north of the AK 1 ramps.

[oscar]

According to Google, this has already happened. Apparently we now have a Western(/Northern) I-4!

Interstate A-4 has been around, as an unsigned Interstate, since it was approved along with the other Alaska Interstates circa 1980.  Unless and until it gets Interstate signage in the field (and I haven't heard of any), nothing new here. 

At least Google gets the number right (minus the A- prefix), unlike some other mapmakers.

[english si]

Only the AK 3 part of the freeway, north of the AK 1/AK 3 junction, is part of Interstate A-4.  The freeway south of the junction, where the marker is placed, is still Interstate A-1.

Is it not in the junction? AK1 has turned off already, though the north facing slips aren't there.

Looking, it seems that the I-4 number is applied by Google to the freeway through the junction, but nothing else.

[triplemultiplex]

Alaska DOT&PF maintains over 1200 roads.  But very few of them get assigned route numbers.  Many significant roads -- including short freeways in Anchorage and Fairbanks, and a few hundred miles of highways radiating from Nome -- are named but not numbered.

And the ones that are numbered may not be robustly signed.  I have been in Ketchikan recently and driven the Tongass Highway end to end.  It's supposed to be part of AK 7, but signage is spartan to say the least.  I have observed just two signs in the field.
It's too bad, because Alaska has a cool state highway shield; the Big Dipper with Polaris, just like on the flag.

[jakeroot]

I don't think I've ever read a description quite like this:

Within Alaska, roads are almost invariably referred to by name or general destination, and not by number(s). Many residents are unfamiliar with official highway numbers even for those highways that they use frequently. Visitors are usually advised to avoid using highway numbers in asking for directions.

[oscar]

I don't think I've ever read a description quite like this:

Within Alaska, roads are almost invariably referred to by name or general destination, and not by number(s). Many residents are unfamiliar with official highway numbers even for those highways that they use frequently. Visitors are usually advised to avoid using highway numbers in asking for directions.

My Hawaii Highways FAQs offer similar advice for that state.

[hotdogPi]

Hawaii Highways FAQs

Link does not work.

[oscar]

Hawaii Highways FAQs

Link does not work.

Thanks.  Fixed.

Here's the correct URL:  http://www.hawaiihighways.com/FAQs-page2.htm#names-over-numbers