Delta Junction Alaska Highway Terminus, Alaska

The Alask Highway was the first major overland route to Alaska, and is 1,440 miles long, connecting the already existing road system from the lower 48 states (which went as far north as Dawson Creek, British Columbia), to Delta Junction, Alaska (which was connected to much of Alaska through Fairbanks). Built in 1942, to move troops and supplies to protect Alaska from the impending Japanese invasion, the highway was constructed in just 258 days, using around 16,000 workers. By the time it was finished, however, the Japanese were already retreating.