State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Trekking Up the 'First Road' in the Last Frontier

Route Fifty: JUNEAU, Alaska — The Last Frontier’s seat of government is a fun one for those who enjoy state capital trivia. For starters, the City and Borough of Juneau is the nation’s second-largest municipality by land area, and might grow a bit larger if it annexes part of Admiralty Island, as has been proposed. (Sitka, Alaska’s former capital, is the nation’s largest municipality by land area.)

By road, Juneau, which has a population of around 30,000 people, is isolated not only from the rest of the state, but also the rest of the North American continent. The rugged mountains and coastal topography here are a formidable physical barrier—you either have to fly or take a ferry via the Inside Passage.

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