extend northwestward to Big Delta, Alaska, where connections were to be made with existing transportation facilities. The authorization provided for construction of a pioneer road by U.S. Army engineer troops, followed by contractors, furnished and directed by the Public Roads Administration, who would improve the pioneer road to an authorized standard.
Public Roads received instructions from the War Department to build the final highway according to established standard specifications for roads and bridges in national forests and parks. The road was to be two lanes, and surfacing was to be of local materials, with final surfacing to be applied only after earthwork had stabilized. Temporary bridges were to be trestles of local timber. Permanent bridges were to be left to future financing and to the determination of the government authorities charged with operation of the road. The Army sector commanders were to locate the pioneer road with such ultimate standards in mind that would permit maximum use of the alinement for the final road.[1]
As originally conceived, the work of constructing the highway was divided between the engineer troops of the Army and civilian contractors under the direction of Public Roads. In actuality, however, it was a combined effort with overlapping work responsibility, shifts in priorities, and a great deal of truly cooperative effort from the time of the arrival of the first Army troops at Dawson Creek on March 10, 1942, to the removal of all contractor personnel and supervisory engineers of Public Roads at the end of October 1943. As a highway project alone, ignoring military and economic considerations, the route selected was perhaps inferior to one located west of the main range of the Rocky Mountains but because of the war, a completely different set of requirements and priorities was necessary.
With the general route established, decisions had to be made concerning location and design in or across canyons, rivers, mountain passes and muskeg; the weather for work schedules; the use and source of native materials; as well as many other engineering and logistic considerations.
Mobilization
Immediately upon receiving notice of the impending agreement, the PRA Western Headquarters started a search of the whole West Coast for water transportation. Eventually, transportation to and from the project, both freight and personnel, was handled by a contractor and consisted of a fleet of 4 freighters, 10 tugboats, 5 passenger boats (converted yachts) and 1 manned barge built in 1868, assembled in Lake Union and Lake Washington in Seattle. In addition, early contingents of personnel were carried to Skagway by the Army Transportation Service, classified as either passengers or cargo, depending on order of boarding and location of berth above or below decks.
Simultaneously trucks, tools, and other equipment and materials were gathered from the camps of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the northwest for use on the project. These were started north by whatever transport could be obtained. The resources of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) were also tapped for roadbuilding and office equipment. Both of these agencies were being terminated at the time, and the use of surplus equipment was mutually beneficial.
Field headquarters were established in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, with a subsidiary office at Gulkana, Alaska, and in Ft. St. John, British Columbia, with a subsidiary office at Ft. Nelson on the Liard River. PRA work in the Whitehorse sector did not commence until over a month after activities started on the Ft. St. John end of the project. The first contingent of 12 men from Denver arrived in Ft. St. John on March 14 and 15, and the first troops and PRA personnel reached Skagway, Alaska, early in April, with Public Roads men finally reaching Whitehorse in mid-April.
Personnel carrier arriving in Alaska.
532
- ↑ Letter to Gen. Clarence L. Sturdevant, Office of the Chief of Engineers, from Thomas H. MacDonald, Commissioner, Public Roads Administration, Mar. 4, 1942, in Construction of The Alaska Highway (Public Roads Admin., Washington, D.C., 1945) pp. 102–105.
