Whittier Looks to Open Remote Alaska Town to Tourism and Freight

Whittier, Alaska, sits at the edge of Prince William Sound, near Anchorage. About 275 residents live in Begich Towers, a former military facility converted to housing. The town is pursuing the Whittier Moves Transportation Master Plan to widen access and grow tourism and freight.

The only entry to Whittier is the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, a 2.5-mile, single-lane passage that also carries Alaska Railroad trains. It is one of North America’s longest highway tunnels and operates with one-way, timed openings for vehicles and trains, and it closes nightly. In the summer, the last allowed entry is 11 p.m.; in the winter, it is 10:30 p.m. Travel through the tunnel takes about six minutes at 25 mph.

But with rising interest in the unique place, town officials are exploring ways to make the town more accessible and to accommodate more visitors during the busy cruise season. The Whittier Moves Transportation Master Plan aims to identify ways to improve transportation to and from the town to support tourism and freight. Among the proposals is adding another cruise ship dock in partnership with Norwegian Cruise Line and Glacier Creek Development, which would allow Norwegian, Oceania, and Regency Seven Seas Cruises to call at Whittier more frequently. The plan also envisions expanded tourism amenities, shopping infrastructure, and a more robust transportation staging area.

Whittier has already received a federal boost for the project: a $360,000 grant from the federal government, announced by the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, and confirmed by DOT spokesperson Shannon McCarthy to The Alaska Beacon. The grant will support planning and design tasks as the town considers new dock facilities and other infrastructure. The project seeks to leverage Whittier's two cruise ship ports and proximity to Alaska's rail and sea networks to diversify the local economy.

The town’s geography and infrastructure pose ongoing challenges. Officials note narrow geography and limited flat land between the Passage Canal and surrounding mountains, with the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel serving as the sole surface transportation link. The tunnel operates on a one-way, timed basis for both cars and trains; train track switches direct trains away from the tunnel before it opens for highway traffic. About 20 percent of the tunnel’s time slots are reserved for railroad use, and when a train is delayed, vehicles must wait. The tunnel is also a chokepoint during the spring through autumn months, when high cruise traffic can provoke backups.

Beyond the tunnel, Whittier's services are clustered inside Begich Towers, a complex built from former military barracks and converted in 1974. The building houses a police station, a shop, a doctor's clinic, a conference room, a Baptist church, and a post office. A school connected to the towers by a tunnel provides education for residents' children, and the property even includes a two-story bed-and-breakfast that hosts visitors seeking a glimpse of life inside the community. In the summer, the town bustles with cruise passengers and day-trippers, while winter life remains tightly regulated by curfews and limited access.

The transportation plan reflects a broader strategy to grow Whittier's role as a gateway for cruise tourism and freight, while maintaining the town's tight-knit, self-contained character. If successful, the initiative could broaden Whittier’s economic base beyond the cruise season and help relieve the well-known access bottlenecks that have long constrained the town. Officials stress that the project is in the planning stage, with government funding and private-sector partnerships under discussion, and that any expansion would proceed with careful consideration of the town's unique geography and population.