A Viking’s Walkabout – Day 19 – Viking Navigation LLC

Fairbanks to Anchorage, Alaska

Distance: 358 miles

Time: ~6h20m

The Mears Memorial Bridge on the Alaska Railroad as seen from the Shirley Demientieff Memorial Bridge in Neena, Alaska. During the first Presidential visit to Alaska, President Harding drove the golden spike at the north end of the Mears Bridge on July 15, 1923. The single 700-foot span makes it one of the longest simple truss spans in the world and it was the longest truss span in the U.S. when it was completed. The bridge approach is a long horseshoe curve on the south side of the bridge that allows the railroad to line up for the crossing.

It is named for Col. Frederick Mears, the principal engineer during construction of the Alaska Railroad and one of the lead engineers on the Panama Canal. The last time I was in Alaska I was given a copy of Crittenden and Crittenden’s “Get Mears!” It’s a good read on the challenges of building the railroad and it remains in the engineering section of my library.

Denali from Highway 3.

I was tired so I did not take many pictures today. Just trying to get to Anchorage and a few good dinners with friends and family.

Turning a tight corner on two-lane Highway 3, I watch a metal bolt bounce along the top of a Matson container heading north. One hop… two hops… off the edge… SMACK! right on the edge of my windshield… The crack starts small but by the time I reach Orange County it will have spread half way across the windshield.