Whittier (Alaska)

Unorganized Borough

02-84510

Whittier is a city in the Valdez - Cordova Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska with 182 inhabitants (as of 2000).

Whittier is on the northeast shore of the Kenai Peninsula at the mouth of the Passage Canal, west of Prince William Sound. The municipality covers 51 km ², of which 32.5 km ² of land and 18.5 km ² water.

History

During the Second World War the United States Army built near the Whittier Glacier, named after John Greenleaf Whittier a port and a railway station, which also received the name of " Whittier ". 1943 reached the Alaska Railroad the place. The port was used until 1960 as a military facility.

Two built after the war buildings dominate the city's image. The Begich Towers (formerly Hodge Building ) housed soldiers and is now a complex with flats. The Buckner Building was completed in 1953, at that time the largest building in Alaska, serves as a " city under one roof".

Whittier in 1964, heavily damaged by a thrown by the Good Friday earthquake tsunami, which hit with up to 13 m high waves on the place.

Today, Whittier is a popular port of call for cruise ships because of its good rail and road access to Anchorage and inland. The Denali Express, a non-stop flight to Denali National Park, here has its terminus.

The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel through the Mountain Maynard connects Whittier to the Seward Highway leading to Anchorage. The tunnel itself is part of the Portage Glacier Highway and at 4050 m the second longest highway tunnel and the longest combined road and rail tunnel in North America. In 1943, the tunnel initially only for trains to operate on. Mid-1960s a train shuttle service for cars was introduced, shuttled between Whittier and Portage. The increase in traffic made ​​an enlargement of the railway tunnel to a road is required. The opening of the expanded tunnel took place in June 2000.