If you didn’t know - the Parks Highway is NOT named for Denali Park, but rather for George Parks, who was Alaska’s territorial governor from 1925 to 1933.

Thank you so much for this! I was hired by AAA as a dispatcher for alaska, out of an office in Delaware for the over night shift. From my experience almost everyone local you talked to would call them by the highway names and not the numbers, especially as you got away from anchorage. This was 10 years ago and I’m getting flashbacks on who I’d have to call for different spot up and down these highways Made for lots of boring nights and the occasional “the diesel in this guys truck froze in Fairbanks.”

Alaska residents mostly refer to the main highways by their names. My daughter went to college in Alaska. It is indeed a beautiful place.

Kind of unrelated to the video, but I just wanted to say I did a route 80 trip from New Jersey to Pittsburgh, and I thought of your channel the whole way as I was passing the signs! Your channel definitely makes me want to explore more

Alaska likes to call highways by their names. I know that from a book my Grandma used to have called “The Milepost”, which I absolutely loved to read. It had chapters for each highway, with logs listing various intersections and points of interest, as well as the mile-markers at which they were located. I wish she still had that book.

If you ever get to AK, refer to the highways by their names or where you are trying to go. Alaskan's do not reference the numbers.

Was up in Alaska for vacation last summer and travelled those highways. The roadhouses were some of the best parts of the drive on those long highways. Each had a unique feel to them and were interesting to walk around. Of course budget travelers will wince quite a bit as it costs a lot of money to get food and fuel to these places, so gas prices and food prices...ouch!!! Melting permafrost is making a mess of these roads - lots of heaves and buckles can make it feel like a rollercoaster. But you will find so many places to pull over and take pictures - glacier covered mountains, waterfalls, inlets and ocean, just stunning. Also, the closer you get to the southern parts of Alaska like Valdez and Homer/Seward, brace yourself for a lot of extra rain and snow. Valdez seems to be fog covered half of the time, and the mountains outside of town get over 1,000 inches of snow a year! AK-3 passes by Denali NP. Wasilla is a suburb (long drive) to Anchorage and has grown quite a bit so that explains the strip mall/stroad feel of the place. Up by Denali, those are some hiking trails crossing the rivers that Todd showed us. If you go up there, hope for nice weather and take the flight to see Denali. Unless you're going to do some serious hiking, that's the only way you're going to see the mountain up close. And in Fairbanks, if you take the UAF exit, visit the university and see "The Magic Bus." And Kroger shoppers, your shopper's card is good at Fred Meyer's!

If I’ve learned anything watching this channel, it’s: Don’t use “Canada” as a control city. We all know Alaska should’ve used “Toronto” as a control City. 😆

Alaska has one of the best state highway markers I was about 9 mouths old when the Exxon Valdez oil spill happened Should have use North to Alaska for your opening

I’m from the Kenai Peninsula, that’s the best part in my opinion. About an hour and a half north of Homer

it looks like they need a new Welcome to Anchorage sign.

Say whatever you want about Wasilla, but I think it must have the best backdrop for any strip mall town in America, with the mountains that you can see from the town, especially here 18:16, here 18:22, and here 18:24. As always great video Todd, keep on trucking! :) 👍

Congratulations Alaska you are no longer left out.

Never having been to Alaska, I think Seward makes sense going north on 1 because of how the geography makes the drive there circuitous, i.e. it feels like it shouldn't be in the same direction as Anchorage, so it's better to sign both. I think Palmer might be better than Wasilla because of the state fair? Then again, tourists driving up to Denali would pass through Wasilla.

I’m glad you finally did all 50 states on this channel!!

So glad I watched this. I was born on Tudor Rd. First time ever seeing the area. Moved to the lower 48 when I was 3. Never made it back to Alaska.

I visited Alaska last March for a very interesting 10-day trip. It was still very snow covered up there but the temps were at least usually above zero degrees. So it was "weird" seeing these highway scenes with no snow on the ground, my memory has all snow in it. I got to view glaciers and the Northern Lights and even got to see Denali off Highway 3 one day. Those pull offs to view the mountain aren't open (or plowed) in the winter so I had to pull off to the side in one spot to view the mountain, it was a blue sky morning with cold temps but there was the mountain. So naturally I got to see plenty of the highways while I was up there. A few quick observations from my travels: 1. As with other comments, they indeed use the highway name more up there 2. I never understood signing "City of Kenai" on some of those signs. The city is just called Kenai, I understand not wanting to confuse those with the Kenai Peninsula but I wouldn't think that would be a problem on a highway sign. 3. I was thinking about that western freeway in Anchorage, the one you get to from O'Malley Road off of the Seward Highway. I kind of think Alaska could sign that with another state highway, following O'Malley Road around that western freeway up Minnesota Drive and up to Downtown Anchorage before following the one-way couplet east back to the Glenn Highway. 3. Personally, I think the freeway part of Highway 1 from north of Anchorage to the split with Highway 3 could be Interstate A1. It certainly felt like that when I drove up there, some parts were even six lanes wide. They could still call it the Glenn Highway as well. 5. The expressway part around Fairbanks was interesting as well. I wonder why some of it was freeway and other parts were at-grade intersections. Again, if they ever added overpasses and/or interchange at those lights and made the whole expressway into a freeway then I could see a southern freeway stretching from west of Fairbanks to east of North Pole and they could sign that Interstate A2 6. Back to Fairbanks, I agree with what you said about Alaska 3 south not being signed for Anchorage. Definitely not a bad idea. That all said, I do remember that the first southbound mileage sign just outside Fairbanks does list the distance to Anchorage, so they do have it listed there. 7. As for the control cities at the junction with Highway 3 and Highway 2, I think Fort Richardson actually isn't a bad control point. I believe the main entrance (probably the one the military prefers people using) is just north of there and that must be a fairly high traffic generator. Signing it for Downtown Fairbanks could work too. You missed an overhead sign in the same area that just lists the control city as the Steese Expressway with Highway 2 south being signed the Richardson Highway. This could be one scenario where signing the highway names as controls may not be the worse idea.

It is weird that North Pole is southeast of Fairbanks. I loved North Pole when I went and it was a great little town.

16:17 I like how you have to go south to get to North Pole 😂.

1. Tok is actually pronounced "toke" ( i went there a few times and thats how the locals pronounced it.) and 2. only reason it's not classified as an interstate with a shield is because it doesn't meat interstate standards which i find ironic considering a few interstate highways in the lower 48 are also not Interstate standard. I should mention that these highways are in the US interstate system just to clear up any confusion

Awesome video man I love your videos

As for musical acts from Alaska, unfortunately, it seems that Alaska isn’t in the Sporcle playlist that I use, but I do know of two acts: Jewel (You Were Meant For Me) from Homer and Portugal. The Man (Feel It Still) from Wasilla.

I did Alaska Hwy 2. You did Alaska Highways 1 and 3. Now we need someone to do Alaska Highway 4.

Tok rhymes with Coke, not sock. Kenai is pronounced KEY-nye. Technically, you’re right when you say Valdez. But if you want to sound like an Alaskan, we say val-DEEZ. At about 17:20 you ask why our exit sign lists Denali Park instead of Anchorage. Interesting story. When it first went up, it did say Anchorage instead of Denali park. But a whole bunch of Fairbanksans complained and wanted it to say Denali park instead. I see a lot of comments that we call our highways by their names, not their numbers. Not only is that true, it’s so true that most of us don’t even know the numbers. I’ve had more than one hilarious conversation with a tourist who wants to know how to get to Highway 3 and I’m like, “now which one is 3 again?”

Greetings from Sunny Florida and The Florida Flywheelers Show!!

14:03 the natives always called it Denali

My solution for Highway 2 heading north out of Fairbanks is Prudhoe Bay. No, it isn’t on Highway 2, but Highway 2 just ends unceremoniously in the middle of the state; it can’t even follow the Yukon River to the Bering Sea. Prudhoe Bay along the Dalton Highway, however, does have a sick payoff: ignoring Nordkaap along the E69, it is the northernmost community connected to a Continental road network!

I'm not aware of any state highway departments that follow the even/odd numbering scheme that the US- and Interstate highways do (doesn't mean there isn't one). Heck, most state highway departments predate those systems, so it's not surprising.

Tok is pronounced like what someone does with a joint. I remember when the Parks Glenn interchange was a stop sign and Wasilla only had a flashing light where KGB/Main Street and the Parks Highway meet.

All I need to say is watch your speed do not pass when you're not supposed to drive safely because hey you know this is the only road we have and I mean the only road we have

Palmer is where the state fair is

you should do Long Island Expwy (i-495 NY)

One of my best friends lived in Homer for a couple of years. She moved there because of a man. It definitely didn’t work out And she is back living in the Keystone State!

My parents and I rented an RV and traveled throughout Alaska for a 16 day trip in 2015.

Beautiful here in Florida too... And a bit more acceptable temperatures here than in Alaska lol😂!!

11:00 Highway 9

Thank you for my request. You meant both, Taco Bell, and Fred Meyers. But you did not mention me. but its alright...

That road in Alaska at 16:16 is so far north, that you have to go south to get to the north pole.

would love to see a I-278, the only interstate highway to go through all 5 boroughs!

Delta Junction is where 2 & 4 meet

How do you think Alaska and Hawaii have done with control cities so far?

I think maybe they could upgrade Highways 1 & 3 between Anchorage and Fairbanks to Interstate standards and sign that as Interstate A1

Aren't some of these officially part of the Interstate system?

University of Alaska. If you're a college basketball fan - especially a fan of a blue blood - you'll remember the Great Alaska Shootout

Alaska is a very interesting place....... first line is a 3 digit... strangeeeeee

My interstate hero wasn’t here last week! What was wrong

@18:14 a few miles behind that firework stand on June 2 1996 37,000 acres burned 344 houses burned because some dipsh!t with fireworks! Now they are not legal but they still sell them? New years is safe for fireworks and its dark but the forth of July its 24 hour day light. Fireworks are a stupid fire hazard and should be illegal.

Your pronunciation of Alaska town names is a little rough haha

TOK is not pronounced TALK , but rather TOKE! I'm a 30 year resident of Alaska !

The way you pronounced Kenai, Tok, and Valdez was very wrong.

No Alaskan refers to our highways by their numbers. We don’t even know what the numbers are. We call the highways by their names. The Parks, the Glenn, the Seward Highway… And you mispronounced Tok. And Kenai. And Valdez. And Tok again a bunch of times. And Denali. And Nenana. And they label it it “City of Kenai” to avoid confusion with the Kenai Peninsula and Kenai Fjords National Park, which is actually in Seward.

Outsider acting like he’s knows anything. To start with, no Alaskan uses Highway numbers. 😂Lol 😂😂 We call them by their names.

Alaska dose not honor out of state drivers licenses. Consequently, their residents can't drive here in Texas.😊