Chickaloon River Bridge
Matanuska-Susitna Borough, near Chickaloon. Built 1917 as a railroad bridge, relocated 1982, roofed afterward — Alaska's closest surviving example of a covered bridge, since none of the state's original seven remain.
Alaska once had seven covered bridges, all built within an eight-year span in the early 20th century — but none survive today, replaced over time with more durable steel structures. The closest thing left to a covered bridge in the state is the Chickaloon River Bridge, a 121-foot Howe truss span originally built in 1917 to carry the Chickaloon Branch of the Alaska Railroad.
The bridge remained in active railroad service until 1981, when it was judged unsafe for continued use. Rather than being scrapped, it was relocated in 1982 to a cleared site along Chickaloon Branch Road, near its original crossing south of Chickaloon. A roof was added sometime after the move, giving the old railroad truss bridge the unmistakable look of a classic covered bridge, even though it no longer spans water and was never built as one in the traditional sense.
Today the Chickaloon River Bridge stands as a preserved piece of Alaska Railroad history and, by appearance if not by original design, the state's answer to the covered bridges found across the Lower 48.
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Chickaloon River Bridge