Whittier town is home to 265 residents
A town in Alaska is so isolated that a curfew has been set for residents to avoid being unable to get home.
Whittier, 50 miles from the state capital, Anchorage, is home to 265 residents. It is so isolated that the residents must return before 11 pm to avoid getting ‘shut out’ of the town.
The only way to enter the quiet town is through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, which is located under a glacier known as Maynard Mountain.
The one-way tunnel closes at 11pm in the summer and 10.30pm in the winter. After the tunnel closes, there is no way for residents to get back to the town until the morning.
In order to allow vehicles to get both in and out of the town, 15-minute time slots are allocated starting from 5am in the summer and 7am in the winter.
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This remote town can only be accessed by a tunnel
Alaska Railroad Corporation also shares the tunnel. However, only 20% of the time slots are used by it, meaning the additional time slots can be used to let cars through during busier time periods.
If a vehicle is driving 25 miles per hour, it is said to take around 6 minutes to get across and a $13 toll is charged per car.
When getting through the tunnel, vehicles are lined up in a specific order. Trucks, cars and then vehicles towing trailers.
Oversized vehicles are limited only being permitted to use the tunnels from Monday to Thursday.
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The tunnel opens 5am in the summer and 7am in the winter
The majority of the residents live in the 14-level complex, which was originally built as a military facility for the U.S. Army during the Second World War.
It was converted into a residential area in 1974, with a post office and grocery store and additional tunnels giving access to schools, laundry and housing.