Engineer (historical)

The 800-mile long Trans-Alaska (Alyeska) Pipeline crosses the entire state of Alaska from where it originates in Prudhoe Bay ... on the Arctic Ocean, to where it terminates in Valdez ... on Prince William Sound.

Our 2001 trip to Alaska, which took us all the way north on the Dalton Highway, pretty much ran along the pipeline. So, we’re familiar with this engineering feat.

Today, we stopped at an interpretive center at Mile 8.4 of the Steese Highway to get reacquainted with the pipeline.

It’s an unmanned turnout just off the road ... with information panels. There are a couple of retired pigs, too — devices that are used to remove the wax that builds up inside the pipeline. If I remember correctly, James Bond, portrayed by Pierce Brosnan in “The Living Daylights,” used such a device inside the Trans-Siberian Pipeline to help a defector escape Russia.

One can get up close and personal with the pipeline here and see where it comes out of the ground and is elevated so as not to cause the permafrost to thaw. Self-contained refrigeration devices located on top of vertical support members further help to dissipate the heat and keep the ground frozen. Other elevated sections are built so as not to interfere with the migration routes of animals in the Arctic tundra.

The section we saw today was a straight one, but parts are built in a zigzag configuration. Not only does this allow the pipeline to expand or contract as the temperature changes, but it also allows for greater movement of the pipeline during earthquakes.

Whether one is a proponent of drilling in Alaska or not, one must admit that a great deal of thought has gone into the building of this pipeline.Read more