Alaska Highway

The Alaska Highway is a road that connects the Continental United States with Alaska.

Prior to World War 2 all trade with Alaska was by sea. However, once Japan declared war planners realized that Alaska was at risk of cutting off Alaska. Japan occupied two of the Aleutian Islands.

It was decided that Alaska needed a land connection, in case Japan interdicted the sea connection. Much of the highway was built across very remote regions in Canada's province of British Columbia and Yukon territory.

Most of the personnel constructing the highway were US military personnel. The commanding officers of the remote bases that housed those US military personnel triggered political concerns, as they treated the surrounding areas as if they were subject to US military law as occupied territories in war zones. When the few Canadian citizens living in the region had conflicts with US personnel they found themselves subject to US martial law.

Because it was a military road the forests were cleared for a considerable distance from the road's shoulders. In theory this was to prevent Japanese commandos from laying an ambush. In practice, no Japanese soldiers ever landed in North America.