Highlight
Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel
North America's longest highway tunnel, shared by cars and trains on one lane through the mountain
Typical duration
45 min
Price
$13 per car, round trip (≈ €12)
From port
3 km / 1.9 mi
Transfer time
10 min
Indoor / Outdoor
mixed
Queue risk
medium
🕐 Best time to visit
Summer, 5:30am–11:15pm; leaves Whittier on the hour, enters at half past
At 2.5 miles, the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel is the only road into Whittier and the longest highway tunnel in North America. It was blasted during World War II as a railway tunnel, and since 2000 cars and trains have taken turns on a single lane. Traffic runs one way at a time on a fixed schedule, so the drive feels like an event: you queue at the staging area, wait for the green light, then rumble along the rails through bare rock. If you're arriving or leaving Whittier by car or bus, you're doing it anyway, so time it with the schedule and leave a margin for train delays.
Getting there from the port
Drive through in a rental car or taxi, or ride the Alaska Railroad; no walking or cycling inside