The Copper River Highway extends from Cordova along the old railbed of the
Copper River and Northwestern Railway
The Copper River and Northwestern Railway (CR&NW) consisted of two rail lines, the Copper River line and the Northwestern line. Michael James Heney had secured the right-of-way up the Copper River in 1904. He started building the railway from ...
. Construction began in 1945, and was originally intended to link Cordova with the state highway system at
Chitina
Chitina ( Ahtna Athabascan Tsedi Na < ''tsedi'' "
Million Dollar Bridge
1,000,000 (one million), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the au ...
, which had carried trains until the CR&NW shut down, was converted for highway use. It is one of two discontinuous segments of
Alaska Route 10
Alaska Route 10 refers to two unconnected highways in the U.S. state of Alaska:
*Copper River Highway
* Edgerton Highway and McCarthy Road
The McCarthy Road is a gravel-surfaced road that runs from the end of the Edgerton Highway in Chitina ...
.
The road extended only slightly beyond the bridge when the
Good Friday earthquake
The 1964 Alaska earthquake, also known as the Great Alaska earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PM AKST on Good Friday, March 27, 1964.
of 1964 halted construction and severely damaged the Million Dollar Bridge, collapsing the north span. Temporary repairs were made, and the bridge continued to be used. Permanent repairs were not completed until 2005.
The first of the highway is paved; the rest is gravel. A primitive
four-wheel-drive
A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case provi ...
road continues for beyond the end of the highway to the Allen River.
The highway past mile 36 has been de facto abandoned since 2011 due to erosion of the approach to Bridge 339.
Route description
The Copper River Highway begins at the Alaska Marine Highway ferry terminal in Cordova. From there, the highway proceeds through central Cordova, intersecting several small roads and passing residential and commercial buildings. The road exits Cordova, and passes the large
Eyak Lake
The Eyak are an Alaska Native people historically located on the Copper River Delta and near the town of Cordova, Alaska. They are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast. Today, Eyak people live in Cordova, Yakutat, across Alaska, and the U.S ...
, proceeding to the
Merle K. (Mudhole) Smith Airport
Merle K. (Mudhole) Smith Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located 11 nautical miles (13 mi, 20 km) southeast of the central business district of Cordova, a city in the Chugach Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska ...
. The highway then turns to a gravel road and proceeds east and then northeast through both Eyak Corporation land and the
Chugach National Forest
The Chugach National Forest is a United States National Forest in south central Alaska. Covering portions of Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula and the Copper River (Alaska), Copper River Delta, it was formed in 1907 from part of a larger ...
; however, after passing over several sloughs, the highway now stops after approximately 35 miles due to Bridge 339 having been washed out in 2011