Скачать или смотреть Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel

Alaska Railroad
Whittier, AK to Portage, AK
Recorded on 9/19/2009 by James Ogden

Overview:
This is a journey through the unique Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, which provides both highway and rail access to the town of Whittier, AK. The tunnel was originally built as a railroad tunnel, and the highway was added later for convenience. This video was shot from the front of a bus making the westbound passage through the tunnel, leaving Whittier and heading towards Anchorage.

Technical Info:
The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, often called the Whittier Tunnel, was completed in 1943 as a railroad tunnel. For decades the only land access to Whittier was by rail. The Alaska Railroad ran regular shuttle trains between Whittier and Portage, AK, so that residents and visitors could get in and out of the town. The shuttle train has a couple of passenger cars, and several flat cars, so that automobiles could be carried through the tunnel between the highway, in Portage, and the local streets, in Whittier. In 2000, the tunnel opened to highway traffic, and the shuttle train service was discontinued. The tunnel remains an active rail line to this day. Typically several trains pass through the tunnel every day, including both passenger and freight trains.

Because the tunnel was originally constructed as a railroad tunnel, it is quite narrow. When the highway was added, in the late 1990's, it was financially impractical to widen the tunnel to accommodate two lanes of traffic. Instead, the tunnel was widened just enough to make a highway passage safe, and just one lane was constructed, with the railroad tracks embedded in the concrete road surface. Safety systems were set up to monitor traffic inside the tunnel, and to control the direction of traffic flow. It was also designed to coordinate the scheduling of trains and highway traffic. The railroad maintains right of way through the tunnel. The tunnel opens once each hour, in each direction, to vehicle traffic, and stays open for fifteen minutes. If a train arrives while vehicles are in the tunnel, the train waits for the tunnel to clear, and then it gets priority through the tunnel once it is clear, even if it delays the highway opening schedule. The tunnel is only open from during the day, from the morning to the late evening. All highway and rail traffic passes through the tunnel during those hours, and at night the tunnel is closed off, making it impossible to pass through. This helps to keep animals out of the tunnel as well.

A typical drive through the tunnel is six to seven minutes. A train will pass through the tunnel slightly faster, emerging from under Mount Maynard about five minutes after entering. When the highway was added to the tunnel, the lighting was added, as well as a series of safe houses. The safe houses are spaced about 1,300 feet apart, inside the tunnel. They are designed to accommodate up to 55 people in each one. They are fireproof, earthquake resistant, and even have their own supply of oxygen. They could be used in the event of an emergency inside the tunnel, until rescue crews could get to the people in the tunnel.