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Alaska’s south coast crashes into the North Pacific Ocean like an eagle diving for a fish. Steep mountains rear up almost verti-cally out of the water and there is little inhabitable land. The village of Whittier sits on one of the ex-

ceptions, a tiny speck with a total surface area between the water and two massive stone mountains measured in acres. For de-cades, the only way in or out was by barge or rail. That is, until the residents and gov-ernment found a way to compromise and allow automobiles to use the tunnel, as well — on the exact same right-of-way.

No roads lead inland from Whittier; there simply is no place to put them. In 1941, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers be-

gan drilling a tunnel through one of the mountains to give the Alaska Railroad ac-cess to the port. But for many decades, the only way to get a highway vehicle out of Whittier was to go over the water by barge or on a flat car on a shuttle train through the tunnel and another 10 miles to Portage. From there, you could drive anywhere.

If you’ve ever sat at the mouth of a tun-nel and waited for a train, you know most railroad tunnels have pretty low utilization. The people who lived in Whittier hated to wait for the shuttle trains and hated to sit through the long loading and unloading processes when that tempting tunnel stood empty in front of them. And, although it was illegal and dangerous, some people probably drove their cars through anyway.

The Alaska Railroad transitioned from federal to state ownership in 1985 and be-came more responsive to locals, who con-tinued to ask why they couldn’t just drive through the tunnel. Finally, the Alaska De-partment of Transportation & Public Fa-cilities answered. In 1999, crews began to convert the tunnel to dual-use and resi-dents finally obtained the access they sought. The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel is the longest continuous highway tunnel and fourth-longest rail tunnel in North America. It is also the only com-bined road/rail tunnel in the world in which tracks and tires share a single tube.

Safety, of course, is an issue. To ensure that railroads and autos never try to use the tunnel at the same time, engineers installed

loading. Inside the tunnel, vehicles operate on a concrete roadway with embedded rails, much like trolley tracks, but the rails are 115-pound welded rail clipped to concrete panels under the pavement. A narrow strip of as-phalt on each side of the rail accommodates the differences in expansion and contraction between concrete and steel, and enables rail removal and replacement when necessary. Frequent traffic lights encourage drivers to keep moving or can turn red in case of emer-

gency. Stopping is forbidden. Cameras mon-itor and record vehicles’ entire trip, and computers raise alarms if cars do stop.

Eighteen hours a day in summer (16 in winter), Transfield Services North America, a contractor, controls the tunnel. The rest of the time, the railroad runs additional trains and performs maintenance. When Transfield has control, one person manages the tunnel, switching it from rail to vehicle use, and back as directed by a public schedule of openings

Sharing the railsWith the ocean on one side and stone mountains on the other, people in Whittier, Alaska, have one way in and out by land: the exact same tunnel Alaska Railroad trains use Story and photos by Jan B. Young

OperatorLeonardMalonesurveyshisdomain.Fromthisdesk,hecontrolsalltrafficmovements,allhighwayandrailroadsignals,theventilationblowers,andeverythingnec-essaryforsafeandsmoothmovementofalltraffic.

the hard way AlaskaRailroadF40HEPNo.31,anunpow-eredcabcar,leadsthetwice-dailyAnchor-age-Grandview,Alaska,train(theGlacierDiscoveryTrain)westboundasitleavestheAntonAndersonMemorialTunnel.

elaborate safeguards and computer systems. In railroad mode, the Train Signal System closes all highway gates and turns all high-way signals to red. When in highway mode, the Tunnel Control System activates derail tracks to ensure trains can never proceed when cars are present. In case of an emer-gency, eight fireproof safe rooms can shelter 55 people each in the tunnel. Planners also instituted a 25-mph speed limit and vehicle-spacing requirements.

Today, driving through the tunnel is an experience. You pay the toll ($12 for passen-ger vehicles) and wait in a staging area. If you’re lucky, a train will emerge from the tunnel, as well as vehicular traffic (the tun-nel is wide enough for only a single traffic lane). When the roadway and tracks are clear, gates rise and the traffic light over your staging lane changes from red to green.

Triangular buildings designed to with-stand and split avalanches cover the portals. The Whittier side portal can sustain forces of 1,000 pounds per square foot; the Bear Val-ley side, 220 psf. Anchorage codes require buildings to withstand only 40 pounds’ snow

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Passage CanalPortage Lake

Whittier Staging AreaWhittier

Tunnel safehouse (interior)

Tunnel vehicle turnout

M A Y N A R D M O U N T A I N

Tunnel portal building

Metering signal and railroad gate

Traffic signals and changeable message sign

Bear Valley Staging Area

Gulf of Alaska

Anchorage

Whittier

CANADAALASKA

N0 1 mileScale

© 2010 Kalmbach Publishing Co., TRAINS: Rick Johnson

� TrainsJULY 2010 www.TrainsMag.com �

and by priority movements when they arise.The first step in changing the tunnel is to

cleanse it. Six 75-hp jet fans that provide ven-tilation during normal operation are joined by four 300-hp portal fans for cleansing until CO2 levels reach an acceptable level. The re-versible blowers always run in the direction of traffic so that if there is a problem, smoke and gas will be blown away from the people trapped behind it and not toward them. Westward rail movements generate signifi-cant smoke because the tunnel was built on a half-percent grade in that direction.

Next, operating personnel inspect the tunnel visually through closed-circuit televi-sion cameras. Any abnormalities are re-solved by sending a person in to physically check. When the operator is sure that the tunnel is clear and safe, his computer resets railroad signals, raises or lowers gates, and changes vehicle traffic lights. The operator is also in radio contact with engineers but can-not issue or modify orders as necessary.

There are emergencies, as is the case in any public place. Mostly they are cars with flat tires or out of gas. In early 2004, a loco-motive caught fire in the tunnel, but the engi-neer was able to continue out beyond the portal where one of the tunnel’s hi-rail rescue and fire fighting trucks was able to extinguish the fire without injury or further incident.

Every day in the summer, the tunnel handles four regular passenger train move-ments, as many as a dozen special passenger trains when cruise ships are in port, and up to eight freight trains. Highway traffic peaks at close to 50,000 vehicles per month in the summer. It’s a fascinating, yet practical transportation solution for residents and visitors to Whittier, Alaska. 2

Jan B. Young lives in Port Washington, Wis., and has authored several books, includ-ing “Studebaker and the Railroads.”

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TwomodifiedOshkoshCorp.airportrescueandfirefightingvehiclesresideatthetun-nel,onestoredateachend.Thetruck’sdesignenablesresponderstodisbursewater—upto1,000gallonsperminute—orfoamfromthesafetyofthecab.

AlaskaRailroad4010passesthetrafficcontrolgateattheBearValleyendofthetunnel.

Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel