Portage Glacier Road, one of the best Alaskan drives

Located in the U.S. state of Alaska, the Portage Glacier Road is one of the great Alaskan drives, featuring stunning views.

Portage Glacier Road

Located south of Anchorage, Alaska, the road, also known as Portage Glacier Highway, is 11.59 mi (18.65 km) long. The drive is definitely worth it. There are many excellent photo opportunities. It runs west-east from Portage, a ghost town destroyed in the 1964 Alaska earthquake, on the Seward Highway and the town of Whittier. This paved road was completed on June 7, 2000. It’s made up of a series of roads, bridges, and tunnels.

Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel is 2.5 miles long

The most challenging part of the drive is the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, a one-lane tunnel that must be shared by cars and trains traveling in both directions, passing under the Maynard Mountain.  It's also known as  Whittier Tunnel.  Built in 1943 as a railroad tunnel, it is generally open for highway traffic, but is closed periodically in order to allow trains to pass through the mountain.

 

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