A Highway Of Beauty And Tragedy

When we drive into Anchorage we have the opportunity to drive on

one of the most scenic roads in the United States, the Seward

Highway. Click on this link to see what we see:

http://images.google.com/images?rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS349US350&sourceid=chrome&q=seward+highway+alaska&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=zw1uS-nJBIbIsQP17diyDQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5&ved=0CCYQsAQwBA

It's amazing how the view can change within a given day based on

the weather and light. There are several pull off stops along the road

where people can stand in awe of God's creation on every side. The

beauty is indescribable.

Yet, there is another side to the beauty, it's the tragedy. In 2009 11

people were killed on the highway, most of the deaths occurred

during the summer. The Turnagain Times, our local newspaper

reported that "From 1977 to 2007 there have been 68 accidents,

resulting in 89 fatalities and 218 major injuries" http://turnagaintimes.com/current%20issue/2009-0820/seward-highway.html.

This map shows the fatal and major injury crash locations along

the highway:

http://turnagaintimes.com/current%20issue/2009-08-20/SewardHWYFatalitiesMap.pdf

The top two related accident factors were: failure to keep in the

proper lane and speed related. For more information visit:

http://turnagaintimes.com/current%20issue/2009-08-20/PieGraph.pdf

We are thankful that we only need to drive this stretch of

road a few times a week.