Once there, though, you'll find much to like in this 'little San Francisco' with its hilly streets and winding staircases.
These days Juneau's biggest issue is above the ground. The city is, at present, still inaccessible by road. A 1997 environmental impact study concluded that a 105km (65mi) highway to Skagway could be built that would link to the Alaska Hwy, which would thereby take drivers, eventually, to Anchorage and Fairbanks. Pro-road groups argued that land transportation would simmer down the heated capital-move fight for good and pave the way for economic prosperity. The anti-roadsters question what an incoming/outgoing road would do to the Alaska that they love. Its special remoteness would certainly be lost. Many residents can only imagine the horror when a barrage of summer-cruising Winnebagos meets a wave of cruiseship crowds in the narrow, winding streets of the city centre. |
