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Thank you @AlasSouth! I looked at the Alaska map in my road atlas and nowhere does the map show the red, white and blue shield that denotes the Interstate Highway system. So even if those A-marked roads in Alaska may be up to interstate standards in some areas, they are not the genuine Interstate Highway article!
One criteria that may be confusing is an Interstate Highway has to have at least four lanes. Many of them do, but I-95, that famous Interstate that goes from Maine to Florida, has (or had) one exception.
Admittedly I haven't been up that way in years but for a long time I-95, once it got much beyond the Bangor-Old Town area, dwindled down to only two lanes of undivided highway. It was still limited access but with traffic going in both directions. That northernmost portion goes through Aroostook County which most likely doesn't have the population to support a highway with four lanes.
But if anyone has been up that way recently please update me if I-95 has been expanded to four lanes.
However, the atlas does show a small Interstate network in Hawaii, H-1, H-2 and H-3, which goes through Honolulu and out into the suburbs on Oahu.
And it's interesting and not just a little shocking that there are companies in the "Lower 48" that still aren't convinced Alaska is a part of the U.S. and that it's still on the North American continent!!! Very interesting indeed!!

 

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here you go https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Interstate_Highways_in_Alaska

billlives here: Congrats! You got the 2 issues - no Interstates and not connected to Contiguous states! Unlike some beliefs, we are on the North American continent! We get told, when we order by web, sometimes, that the company doesn't deliver to foreign countries or to a different continent. Or the Department of Defense forbids exporting certain ideas or goods. Sigh.

DPCare: None of those Alaskan Highways are marked as Interstates, and the Fed don't do the upkeep or make the rules. Where did you find a map or list? I'd love to see it.

"A" stands for "Alaska" on those signs. (for example: In Michigan, there are state roads, and Interstate roads, say I-94 andM-1,) marked differently and controlled differently. That's true on the State Hwy Maps on any state I've traveled. Interstates have a different construction than most State roads. Another example. I-5 goes from the Canadian border to the Mexican border. Referred to the I-5 corridor. It parallels the old State Hwys 99 which go down almost to San Francisco along the coast. At points, Hwy 99 & I-5 merge for a stretch, then re-separate.
I live just off the Sterling Hwy, South of Soldotna, which goes from Seward through Soldotna and down to Homer. It is the same highway, dual numbers, north out of Seward, until the Junction at Tern Lake (Milepost 36 - MP 36), where the Sterling Hwy branches off and goes to the West Kenai Peninsula. The Seward Hwy dead-ends at the Glen Highway that goes Anchorage to Glenallen. The Glenn dead-ends at Glenallen, and you take the "Tok Cuttoff" to Tok, where you join the Alcan. They all have a designation of "A-#. Almost no one uses the Hwy number in conversations, and the media refer to their names. We do know they have a number. Some of us do - the ones that can read a highway sign, anyway.

Hey! That's cool that somewhere Alaska is listed as having Interstates. Where is that list or map?

Potties are few and far between on any of those highways. But they travel though wilderness, so except when temps are in the negatives, just pull off and pee. Minus 50 is a wee bit uncomfortable to bare it. Take a cup of coffee at -55 and throw the liquid up, and it freeze before it lands. Yikes!
Take care, and you get some points!

Cheers, everyone!

 

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Hi, Billlives here!
The only roads I know that are to Interstate standards (at least 2 lanes, divided, controlled access, is the small portion of the Seward (Seward to Anchorage) that is in Anchorage. Anchorage thinks it's a big city with bad rush-hour traffic. Yeah, right. The big city would be a tiny square of Seattle, with only 400,000. And their rush hour is bad? Ha! They obviously never drove the I-5 anywhere (or I-95, probably.) near Seattle! Or downtown Seattle, which can grind to a halt. Can you name another city, though, where an American road comes to a temporary halt for a moose that's ambling across? Not sure blackies or brownies (bears) ever stop traffic, but I wouldn't be surprised.
Oh. Also, a considerable portion of the Glen, as it is a commuter road to Anchorage from "the valley" to those "cities" to the north of Anchorage.
None of the other roads even begin to approach Interstate standards. Some wouldn't reach lower-48 State Standards. Some of that is due to Frost Heaving. Even the Seward gets those. Some are dead-ends and are gravel. There are 5 grades of snow plowing. I'm on a 4. They have 36 hours to 3 days to plow. No bgi deal, most of the time. 5 is: "we don't plow it". Seasonal Roads. They often aren't allowed overtime, which is why I'm a 4 instead of a 3, now. The Sterling that I use to get to town only has a few places that are 1, rest is 2, not divided or controlled access anywhere.
The Seward has quite a few Avalanche gates. Believe me, we obey the gates!
The yearly moose kill is as high as 350. Troopers and Fish & Game agree that only half get reported. If you were drunk, would you call the Troopers? And some end up in the freezer! (That's illegal.) Some get into the woods, and die there. Road killed moose went to charity, but you have to come collect it even at 3:30 in the morning in winter. My Eagles lodge used to have a trailer with a winch. They'd call, we'd collect, gut, and take to a church or some one poor or very elderly. Where ever the Troopers said, from the list. I think the Native Elders are on the list, too. To support the Traditional lifestyle. But the list goes by rotation. Of course, if hit by a semi-truck, sometimes not "collectable". There's a picture of one hit by a pickup. It hit the hood and flipped to the top of the camper. Woah! 800 pounds of Moooose. (The plural of Moose is Meese)
You can hit a moose on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. One of my High School teachers did, and he was still furious on 1st day of school. They charged him the $500 hunting license! In 1960, that was a lot of money, for sure. That's Insult to Injury! His car was totaled, too. That's the injury part. Duh.

One company in Anchorage I know, didn't get a shipment in time. The clerk at the Lower-48 company explained: "Well, I looked at the map and Alaska is a little island SE of San Diego", near Hawaii, so I routed it through there." Jaw dropper. What DO they reach these kids, today?
Alaskans collect stupid tales like that. "What's the stupidest question asked by a tourist, this year", too.

Well, Cheers!

 

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Hi @AlasSouth, I think that Alaska when it comes to roads is a totally different situation from most places in the lower 48. So an Interstate is not the answer!! Maybe one day when the population in Anchorage really explodes and Fairbanks also gets a big growth spurt but not likely in our lifetimes!!
One thing, Interstates and moose do not mix!!! With high speeds combined with the sheer bulk of a moose that is definitely a formula for losing, not only the moose but hitting one at Interstate-type speeds won't exactly do wonders for said vehicle!!! As well as said driver/occupants!
And one place I know of in the lower 48 where traffic does stop if there's a sudden moose appearance is Maine. They have their fair share of moose (meese?) there as well. The area around Greenville and Moosehead Lake is well known for moose forays. There are local guides who provide tours in the early morning and around sunset to known moose hangouts.
Just a few years ago there was news made when a moose made his way right into the middle of downtown Bangor. How he got there is anybody's guess and the moose volunteered no information on his own. Bangor has around 35,000 people which people in most areas would call just a pleasant small town. But although it is smack dab in the middle of Maine it is still the largest city for all of northern Maine and that's the part that sticks way up into Canada for more than 200 miles. So a city of 35,000 has it all as far as a city is concerned, including an occasional visit by a moose!
I really guffawed reading about your high school teacher in the UP being cited and assessed $500 for a hunting license after running into a moose!!! Not to mention having to arrange for a new car! Well $500 is a lot of money even today, especially for me!! That would be a considerable chunk of change for me to have to cough up!!
And I'm shaking my head about that company in Anchorage that expected a shipment from the lower 48. And the shipping clerk down below thought Alaska was an island southeast of San Diego and near Hawaii???? I use this 2005 American Map Road Atlas and I can see on 2 separate pages, 1 and 2, that indeed Alaska is off the coast of San Diego near Hawaii!!!! I think that clerk fell asleep during American geography class!!! So if Alaska is just off the coast of Kuai, as it shows in the atlas, why not route the shipment through Honolulu???

 

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I think what would be most effective right now as much as I hate to say it, is to wait until more people show interest. I would hope if a room got set up more people would attend/respond but that could be unrealistic honestly. Communication is a hit or miss and I would bet the majority of people here have facebook rather than staying off social media. Its a catch 22.

Waiting for people to show interest is difficult on the forum. There is really no effective way to build up a picture of people who are interested.

It may help to be clear about the driver for this kind of group.
It could be confidentiality - more confidence that you know who you are talking to.
Or immediacy - the chance to chat in real-time.
Or conviviality - the chance to see and hear the people you are chatting with.
Or variety - to have a place to talk about anything and everything that is not incontinence.
Each of these could be achieved, but maybe not all in the same way.

For myself, I tend to jump on the forum a couple of times a week and I like the way I can catch up on topics and throw in my own comments in my own time. So the current format of the forum is good for me.

I understand that everyone has their own preferences though, so it would be good for there to be options that worked for everyone.

 

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Billliveshere: I forgot about Maine. Don't moose extend their range below Maine? Don't I remember some dairy cow trying to romance a moose? Or was that the other way around? Some of the Northern tier as them, but don't remember any news stories about them.
Fairbanks is losing Population, no longer 2nd or third biggest city.
There was a bull moose living in Downtown Anchorage for years. In the park strip, but some days right in downtown. They gave him some corny name like Bullwinkle. He had a BIG rack. There is some sort of berry bush that ferments - and he'd get drunk every year. He wasn't a belligerent drunk, far as I know. Sort of a mascot. I don't think he ever harmed anyone.
There's a fabulous picture of him with a string of Christmas lights tangled in his antlers.
Periodically, some school kid coming home in winter gets kept out of the house by a moose hanging by the front door and has to seek shelter with a neighbor. If I remember right, Anchorage has the highest population of moose per square mile of any place in Alaska.
On the Anchorage University campus, some dimwit student was throwing snowballs at a moose. Pissed off the moose. When you have a pissed off moose, go somewhere else, very fast. He/she was charging. Anyway, someone else came around the corner and got attacked & injured, badly, I think. The kid was persona non-grata. The cops went after him - harassing a moose is illegal - for obvious reasons. Male college students! Synonym for Idiots!
Then there is the story of the teenagers who trespassed in the Anchorage zoo one night and went swimming in the Polar Bear enclosure. It's was a big story in the Anchorage Daily News, some years ago. But that's another darned funny story.
Teenagers. Another synonym for Idiots!
And then the New Zealand tourist and the Anchorage Zoo polar bear. She was an Alaskan hero, for a bit. A story for another time!

 

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I am on Telegram as of now and it should be easy to begin a group. Username is same as on here, however I am working the next 3 days so activity will be sporadic.