Alaska Route 7

Alaska Route 7 (abbreviated as AK-7) is a state highway in the Alaska Panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It consists of four unconnected pieces, serving some of the Panhandle communities at which the Alaska Marine Highway ferries stop, and connecting to the Alaska Highway in Yukon via the Haines Highway.

Alaska Route 7
Route 7 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by Alaska DOT&PF
Length	144.62 mi[1] (232.74 km) 144.62 mi (in four sections)
Component highways	South Tongass Highway North Tongass Highway Mitkof Highway Nordic Drive Egan Drive Old Glacier Highway (Out the road) Haines Highway
Tongass Highway segment
Length	37.1 mi (59.7 km)
South end	Dead end near Ketchikan
Major junctions	Alaska Marine Highway in Ketchikan
North end	Dead end near Ward Cove
Mitkof Highway segment
Length	34.21 mi (55.06 km)
South end	Dead end on Mitkof Island
Major junctions	Alaska Marine Highway in Petersburg
North end	Sandy Beach Road in Petersburg
Egan Drive / Glacier Highway segment
Length	39.01 mi (62.78 km)
South end	Franklin Street in Juneau
Major junctions	Juneau-Douglas Bridge in Juneau Alaska Marine Highway in Juneau
North end	Dead end in Juneau
Haines Highway segment
Length	39.7 mi (63.9 km)
South end	Front Street in Haines
North end	Haines Highway on the Alaska–British Columbia border
Location
Boroughs	Ketchikan Gateway, Unorganized, Juneau, Haines
Highway system
Alaska Routes Interstate U.S. Scenic Byways ← AK-6 → AK-8

Route description

According to Alaska's supplement to the Federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, AK-7 follows (from south to north):[2]

• South Tongass Highway, North Tongass Highway (Ketchikan)
• Nordic Drive, Mitkoff Highway (Petersburg)
• Glacier Highway, Egan Drive (Juneau)
• Haines Highway, Haines to Border

No other segments are shown on maps.[3][4][5][6][7]

The Alaska Marine Highway ferry service connect the segments, but the ferry ports are for most parts not located at the endpoint of each segment, so many of the endpoints are dead ends.

Tongass Highway

The southernmost piece of AK-7 is known as the Tongass Highway, and heads both ways from Ketchikan on Revillagigedo Island. The ferry service calls at Ketchikan. Within the city of Ketchikan, it's signed as Tongass Avenue from the northern city limits at the airport ferry terminal to the Newtown neighborhood, then continuing through downtown as, successively, Water, Front, Mill and Stedman streets, before becoming the Tongass Highway again after passing Coast Guard Base Ketchikan.

Mitkoff Highway / Nordic Drive

Another section of AK-7 is the Mitkoff Highway, traveling south from Petersburg to the southeast point of Mitkof Island. AK-7 also includes the short Nordic Drive, connecting the Mitkoff Highway to the north point of the island. The ferry service calls at Petersburg.

Egan Drive / Glacier Highway

Egan Drive, part of AK-7, is the main road through Juneau, replacing the Glacier Highway from downtown Juneau to near the Juneau International Airport. Beyond the airport, AK-7 continues along the Glacier Highway past Auke Bay to its northernmost point near Berners Bay. The extreme southern end of Egan Drive is known as Marine Way. The ferry service calls at Auke Bay. There were plans to extend the road north of Berners Bay as the Lynn Canal Highway; however, the project has been indefinitely shelved due to the state's budget crisis.[8]

Haines Highway

The final piece of AK-7 begins in downtown Haines, where the ferry service calls, and follows the Haines Highway northwest to the border with British Columbia, Canada. In British Columbia, it continues north as the Haines Highway with no designation, eventually connecting with Yukon Highway 3 (whichs ends at the Alaska Highway at Haines Junction in the Yukon Territory).

Major intersections

Aerial view of Gastineau Channel and Egan Drive looking southerly, showing most of the highway's length between downtown Juneau and Lemon Creek.

North Tongass Highway, looking roughly easterly as it passes through a neighborhood just beyond downtown Ketchikan.

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
Ketchikan Gateway	Ketchikan	0.00	0.00	Dead end	Beaver Falls access
		15.5	24.9	Ferry Terminal Road — Ketchikan Ferry Terminal	Alaska Marine Highway
	Ward Cove	31.7	51.0	Dead end
Gap in route
Unorganized	Mitkof Island	0.00	0.00	Dead end
	Petersburg	32.21	51.84	Ferry Terminal Road — Petersburg Ferry Terminal	Alaska Marine Highway
		34.21	55.06	Sandy Beach Road east	Nordic Drive turns east and becomes Sandy Beach Road
Gap in route
City and Borough of Juneau		0.00	0.00	Franklin Street — Downtown, Thane
		0.68	1.09	Juneau-Douglas Bridge — Douglas
				Vanderbilt Hill Road
				Glacier Highway Access Road	Interchange
				Mendenhall Loop Road	Southern terminus of Mendenhall Loop Road
				Glacier Highway south	AK-7 takes on the Glacier Highway
				Mendenhall Loop Road	Northern terminus of Mendenhall Loop Road; To University of Alaska Southeast
		13.15	21.16	Ferry Terminal Road — Auke Bay Ferry Terminal	Alaska Marine Highway
		39.01	62.78	Dead end	Beyond Echo Cove access
Gap in route
Haines	Haines	0.00	0.00	Front Street to Haines Ferry Terminal
	​	39.7	63.9	Canada–United States border at Dalton Cache - Pleasant Camp Border Crossing
				Hwy 3 north (Haines Highway) – Haines Junction	Continuation into British Columbia and eventually the Yukon Territory
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

1. Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Southern Region General Log, April 25, 2006 (Routes 291400 (South Tongass Highway), 291500 (North Tongass Highway), 294000 (Mitkof Highway), 294020 (Nordic Drive), 296000 (Glacier Highway/Egan Drive), and 298000 (Haines Highway))
2. Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Alaska Traffic Manual Supplement Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, January 17, 2003
3. Google Maps street maps, accessed August 2007
4. American Automobile Association Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico, 1995
5. Gousha Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico, 1996
6. Rand McNally Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico, 1998
7. MapQuest.com, Inc., National Geographic Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico, 2001
8. Juneau Access cut from state budget. James Brooks. Juneau Empire, 16 December 2016