Roadless

On Wednesday I have a review session for the class I TA in.
We just had a test so as I suspected, no one showed.
But! I am still required to be present for 10 mins to see if anyone does decide to show.

To pass time I was checking out a huge map of Alaska on the wall.
Checking out various sites, I realized something.
There's not that many roads.
I've heard there's only 12 main roads in Alaska, and looking at this map further solidified my belief in that statement.
If you black out the general vicinity of areas with road, you're still left with a LOT of Alaska.
Check it out.

Basically the only continuously-driveable areas are from Tok to Fairbanks to Anchorage (with a sidetrip to Homer).
These cities are all in the main southwest portion of Alaska.
There are other roads, but they are not connected to the rest of the nation.
The only exceptions to this interstate triangle is the small area in the tail-portion of southwest with roads to the main ports of Haines and Skagway from Canada, and the road to Prudoe in the far north that wouldn't exist if there wasn't so much damn oil.

Otherwise plane or boat is the only way to see the rest of Alaska.
No wonder its the last frontier. Not everyone has the means to explore it.