The Copper River Highway extends from Cordova along the old railbed of the

Copper River and Northwestern Railway The Copper River and Northwestern Railway (CR&NW) consisted of two rail lines, the Copper River line and the Northwestern line. Michael James Heney had secured the right-of-way up the Copper River in 1904. He started building the railway from Co ...

. Construction began in 1945, and was originally intended to link Cordova with the state highway system at

Chitina Chitina (Ahtna language, Ahtna Athabascan Tsedi Na < ''tsedi'' "copper" + ''na'' "river") is a census-designated place (CDP) in Copper River Census Area, Alaska, Copper River Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 ...

. The

Million Dollar Bridge The Miles Glacier Bridge, also known as the Million Dollar Bridge, was built in the early 1900s across the Copper River fifty miles from Cordova in what is now the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a multiple-span Pennsylvania truss bridge which compl ...

, which had carried trains until the CR&NW shut down, was converted for highway use. It is one of two discontinuous segments of Alaska Route 10. The road extended only slightly beyond the bridge when the

Good Friday earthquake The 1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PM AKST on Good Friday, March 27.

of 1964 halted construction and severely damaged the Million Dollar Bridge, collapsing the north span. Temporary repairs were made, and the bridge continued to be used. Permanent repairs were not completed until 2005. The first of the highway is paved; the rest is gravel. A primitive

four-wheel-drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

road continues for beyond the end of the highway to the Allen River. The highway past mile 36 has been de facto abandoned since 2011 due to erosion of the approach to Bridge 339.

Route description

The Copper River Highway begins at the Alaska Marine Highway ferry terminal in Cordova. From there, the highway proceeds through central Cordova, intersecting several small roads and passing residential and commercial buildings. The road exits Cordova, and passes the large Eyak Lake, proceeding to the

Merle K. (Mudhole) Smith Airport Merle K. (Mudhole) Smith Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located 11 nautical miles (13 mile, mi, 20 kilometre, km) southeast of the central business district of Cordova, Alaska, Cordova, a city in the Chugach Census Are ...

. The highway then turns to a gravel road and proceeds east and then northeast through both Eyak Corporation land and the

Chugach National Forest The Chugach National Forest is a United States National Forest in south central Alaska. Covering portions of Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula and the Copper River Delta, it was formed in 1907 from part of a larger forest reserve. The Ch ...

; however, after passing over several sloughs, the highway now stops after approximately 35 miles due to Bridge 339 having been washed out in 2011

Major junctions

References

{{Authority control Cordova, Alaska State highways in Alaska