Sterling Highway
 Sterling Highway | |
|---|---|
 Sterling Highway highlighted in red | |
| Route information | |
| Maintained by Alaska DOT&PF | |
| Length | 132 mi[1] (212 km) |
| Existed | 1950–present |
| Major junctions | |
| South end |  Alaska Marine Highway in Homer |
| North end |   AK-1 / AK-9 (Seward Highway) in Chugach National Forest |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Alaska |
| Highway system | |
The Sterling Highway is a 138-mile-long (222 km) state highway in the south-central region of the U.S. state of Alaska, leading from the Seward Highway at Tern Lake Junction, 90 miles (140 km) south of Anchorage, to Homer.
Route description
Construction of the highway began in 1947 and was completed in 1950. The Sterling Highway is part of Alaska Route 1. It leads mainly west from Tern Lake to Soldotna, paralleling the Kenai River, at which point it turns south to follow the eastern shore of Cook Inlet. It is the only highway in the western and central Kenai Peninsula, and most of the population of the Kenai Peninsula Borough lives near it. The highway also gives access to many extremely popular fishing and recreation areas, including the Chugach National Forest, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, and the Kenai, Funny, and Russian rivers. The southern end of the highway is at the tip of the Homer Spit, a landspit extending 4.5 miles (7.2 km) into Kachemak Bay. A ferry terminal here connects the road to the Alaska Marine Highway.[1]
Interstate Highway System
 Interstate A-3 | |
|---|---|
| Location | Soldotna to Anchorage |
| Length | 238.38 mi (383.64 km) |
| Existed | 1976–present |
Sterling Highway is part of the unsigned part of the Interstate Highway System as Interstate A-3.[2][3]
Major intersections
Mileposts on the Sterling Highway begin with Mile 37 (60 km), continuing from the mileposts of the Seward Highway. (The 0 (zero) mile marker for the Seward Highway is in downtown Seward, at the intersection of 3rd and Railway Avenues. Thus, mileposts along the Sterling Highway reflect distance from Seward, which is not actually on the Sterling Highway.[citation needed]
The entire route is in Kenai Peninsula Borough.
| Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homer | 0 | 0.0 |  AK-1 south (Lake Street) / Health Street | Continues south to Alaska Marine Highway terminal | |
| Soldotna | 75 | 121 | Kenai Spur Highway north – Kenai | ||
| Chugach National Forest | 132 | 212 |  AK-1 north / AK-9 south (Seward Highway) – Anchorage, Seward | Tern Lake Junction; northern terminus of AK-9 | |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
References
- ^ a b c "Sterling Highway" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
- ^ Federal Highway Administration, National Highway System Viewer Archived 2007-08-27 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 2007.
- ^ Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Dwight D. Eisenhower Interstate Routes Archived 2009-07-27 at the Wayback Machine, April 2006