Alaska Routes are both numbered and named. There have been only twelve state highway numbers issued (1 through 11 and 98), and the numbering often has no obvious pattern. For example,
Alaska Route 4 04 may refer to
* The year 2004, or any year ending with 04
* The month of April
* 4 (number)
* ''04'' (Six by Seven album)
* ''04'' (Urban Zakapa album)
* 04, department number of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France
* Several German football teams, ...
(AK-4) runs north and south, whereas
AK-2 runs largely east and west, but runs north and south passing through and to the north of
Fairbanks. The
Klondike Highway
The Klondike Highway is a highway that runs from the Alaska Panhandle through the province of British Columbia and the territory of Yukon in Canada, linking the coastal town of Skagway, Alaska, to Dawson City, Yukon. Its route somewhat ...
, built in 1978, was unnumbered until 1998, when it was given its designation during the centennial of the
Klondike Gold Rush. However, many Alaskan highways of greater length than the Klondike Highway remain unnumbered.
Milepost
A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway, railway line, canal or border, boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks like Mileage sign, mileage signs; or they c ...
s, frequently used for road markers and official addressing in rural areas, are also more commonly reckoned by landmark names.
Within Alaska, roads are almost invariably referred to by name or general destination, and not by number(s).
Numbered routes often span multiple highway names. For example,
AK-1 can refer to any of the
Glenn Highway
The Glenn Highway (part of Alaska Route 1) is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska, extending from Anchorage near Merrill Field to Glennallen on the Richardson Highway. The Tok Cut-Off is often considered part of the Glenn Highway, for a ...
,
Seward Highway
The Seward Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska that extends from Seward, Alaska, Seward to Anchorage, Alaska, Anchorage. It was completed in 1951 and runs through the scenic Kenai Peninsula, Chugach National Forest, Turnagain Arm ...
,
Sterling Highway
The Sterling Highway is a state highway in the south-central region of the U.S. state of Alaska, leading from the Seward Highway at Tern Lake Junction, south of Anchorage, to Homer. To assist in agricultural transport and also open area ...
, or
Tok Cut-Off
Alaska Route 1 (AK-1) is a state highway in the southern part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It runs from Homer northeast and east to Tok by way of Anchorage. It is one of two routes in Alaska to contain significant portions of freeway: the Se ...
; meanwhile, portions of the
Seward Highway
The Seward Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska that extends from Seward, Alaska, Seward to Anchorage, Alaska, Anchorage. It was completed in 1951 and runs through the scenic Kenai Peninsula, Chugach National Forest, Turnagain Arm ...
are numbered AK-1, AK-9 and
Interstate A3 (A-3).
Highways
U.S. Highways
The Alaskan portion of the