By admin 
When Anchorage officials and outdoor recreation advocates gathered Saturday to ceremoniously mark the start of construction for a 1.3-mile section of trail near the city’s industrial port, they said they were taking a small step toward a big vision.
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The connector will close a gap in the city’s existing network of paved bike trails and, supporters hope, eventually be part of what they call the “Alaska Long Trail,” an interlaced network spanning 500 miles from Fairbanks to Seward.
Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance characterized the Long Trail as a “dream trail connecting Seward to Fairbanks that will most definitely, most definitely, swing through downtown Anchorage.”
“Our parks and trails are the crown jewels of our community,” she said at the ceremony.
Supporters say trail expansions and improvements offer a big payoff to residents and to the economy, helping to diversify tourism activity that is otherwise highly dependent on the cruise ship industry.
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The new trail connection is to include a plaza dedicated to Dena’ina heritage tied to Ship Creek, which in that Indigenous language is called Dgheyaytnu, meaning Stickleback Creek.
Farther south along the 500-mile corridor, another incremental step toward the Alaska Long Trail goal was completed last fall.
A new trail stretch at Moose Pass, a Kenai Peninsula community of about 225, offers a potentially unbroken hiking route down to Seward, about 30 miles to the south.
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