Haines Highway | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alaska Route 7 Yukon Highway 3 |
|||||||
Route information | |||||||
Maintained by Alaska DOT&PF, Yukon DOH&PW | |||||||
Length: | 152 mi (245 km) AK-7: 37.1 mi (59.7 km) BC: 6.2 mi (10.0 km) YT-3: 108.7 mi (175.0 km) |
||||||
Major junctions | |||||||
South end: | Alaska Marine Highway in Haines | ||||||
North end: | Hwy 1 (Alaska Highway) in Haines Junction, YT | ||||||
Highway system | |||||||
Territorial highways in Yukon Miscellaneous British Columbia provincial highways
|
The Haines Highway or Haines Cut-Off (and still often called the Haines Road) is a highway that connects Haines, Alaska, in the United States, with Haines Junction, Yukon, Canada, passing through the province of British Columbia. It follows the route of the old Dalton Trail from the port of Haines inland for about 180 km (110 mi) to Klukshu, Yukon, and then continues to Haines Junction. The highway is about 244 km (152 mi) long, of which 72 km (45 mi) is in Alaska.
The highway was known as Yukon Highway 4 until 1978, when it was renumbered Highway 3. It has no number in British Columbia, but editions of The Milepost up to at least 2004 list it as Hwy 4, a number actually in use on Vancouver Island. The Alaska section is part of Alaska Route 7.
The route was originally a trail used by Chilkat Tlingit traders, which eventually became the Dalton Trail. It was used by some prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898-1899; other mining kept the lower Dalton Trail active through the years following its establishment. The British Columbia provincial government converted its portion of the trail to a wagon road in 1909 when copper mining began at Copper Butte and Mt. Glave. In 1911, 30 tons of ore were shipped from the mines.