Alaska Route 7

Alaska Route 7
<mapframe width="290" latitude="57.3720" align="center" frameless="1" longitude="-133.9147" height="230" zoom="5">{"type":"ExternalData","service":"page","title":"Alaska Route 7.map","properties":{"stroke-width":3,"title":"Alaska Route 7","stroke":"#ff0000"}}</mapframe> Route 7 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by Alaska DOT&PF
Length:	144.62 mi (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:	Hwy 3 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 →

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.

Route description

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

• 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.

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.

Haines Highway

Main article: Haines Highway § Route description

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 (which 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.

File:Ketchikan Alaska (1).jpg

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

Borough	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Ketchikan Gateway	​	0.00	0.00	Dead end	Beaver Falls access; southern terminus of AK-7/Tongass Highway
	Ketchikan	15.5	24.9	Ferry Terminal Road — Ketchikan Ferry Terminal	Alaska Marine Highway
	Ward Cove	31.7	51.0	Dead end	Northern terminus of Tongass Highway
Gap in route
Unorganized	Mitkof Island	0.00	0.00	Dead end	Southern terminus of Mitkof Highway
	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; northern terminus of Mitkof Highway
Gap in route
City and Borough of Juneau		0.00	0.00	Franklin Street — Downtown, Thane	Southern terminus of Egan Drive
		0.68	1.09	Juneau-Douglas Bridge — Douglas
				Glacier Highway Access Road	Interchange
				Glacier Highway south	AK-7 north overlaps Glacier Highway
		13.15	21.16	Ferry Terminal Road — Auke Bay Ferry Terminal	Alaska Marine Highway
		39.01	62.78	Dead end	Beyond Echo Cove access; northern terminus of Glacier Highway
Gap in route
Haines	Haines	0.00	0.00	Front Street to Haines Ferry Terminal	To Alaska Marine Highway; southern terminus of Haines Highway
United States–Canada border		39.7	63.9	Dalton Cache - Pleasant Camp Border Crossing
					Continuation into British Columbia
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi