The Sterling Highway is a state highway in the south-central region of the U.S. state of

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, leading from 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 ...

at Tern Lake Junction, south of

Anchorage Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolita ...

, to

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

. To assist in agricultural transport and also open areas to tourism, work began on the Sterling Highway in 1946 to connect the Kenai Peninsula agricultural area with Seward. This highway honors Hawley W. Sterling, lifetime ARC engineer who served as assistant chief engineer from 1932 until his death in 1948. The importance of the Sterling Highway was described in the Anchorage Daily Times article on its dedication in 1950:

It is the great achievement in the penetration of barriers that have kept Alaska’s development confined to shoreline establishments dependent upon marine transportation. The new road will give otherwise isolated peninsula farms access to markets for their farm products. In another year it will link the communities with Anchorage by way of the Turnagain Arm road, and all the cities of the continental United States by the way of the Alaska Highway. It opens up the great potential tourist and sportsmen developments by making the fishing, lakes and streams readily accessible by automobile. Alaska families will be able to live year round on their homesteads or fishing sites now that the Sterling Highway and its side roads enable their children to commute to school, give them access to medical aid and make it possible to move supplies as needed.

The Sterling Highway opened to traffic during the winter of 1950, when temperatures below freezing made it possible to travel over the unfinished surface. However, the highway required grading and gravel surfacing before being ready for summer traffic the following year.

Route description

The Sterling Highway is part of Alaska Route 1. It leads mainly west from Tern Lake to Soldotna, paralleling the Kenai River, at which point it turns south to follow the eastern shore of

Cook Inlet Cook Inlet (; Sugpiaq language, Sugpiaq: ''Cungaaciq'') stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage, Alaska, Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding ...

. It is the only highway in the western and central

Kenai Peninsula The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghenen'') is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska. The name Kenai (, ) is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan tribe ...

, and most of the population of the Kenai Peninsula Borough lives near it. The highway also gives access to many extremely popular

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

and recreation areas, including 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 ...

, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, and the Kenai, Funny, and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

rivers. The southern end of the highway is at the tip of the Homer Spit, a landspit extending into Kachemak Bay. A ferry terminal here connects the road to the

Alaska Marine Highway The Alaska Marine Highway (AMH) or the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) is a ferry service operated by the U.S. state of Alaska. It has its headquarters in Ketchikan, Alaska. The Alaska Marine Highway System operates along the south-central ...

Interstate Highway System

Sterling Highway is part of the unsigned part of the

Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Hi ...

as Interstate A-3. Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
Dwight D. Eisenhower Interstate Routes
, April 2006

Major intersections

Mileposts on the Sterling Highway begin with Mile 37 (60 km), continuing from the mileposts of the

. (The 0 (zero) mile marker for the

is in downtown Seward, at the intersection of 3rd and Railway Avenues. Thus, mileposts along the Sterling Highway reflect distance from Seward, which is not actually on the Sterling Highway.

References

{{reflist Interstate Highways in Alaska Transportation in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska State highways in Alaska