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5.1.9.wavConstruction of the 800-mile Alaska Pipeline began in the winter of 1973. Besides the difficulties of construction in remote Alaska, the pipeline designers had to solve many technical problems, such as building on permafrost, crossing one of the largest earthquake fault lines in the world, and extreme temperature ranges from 70 below to 160 degrees when full of oil.
Much of the pipeline was built above ground to keep the warm oil flowing through the pipes from melting permafrost. In areas of high earthquake danger, the pipeline was built on teflon shoes that slide on steel beams to accommodate ground movement. The pipeline was zigzagged to convert lengthwise expansion into a sideways movement.
Trans-Alaskan Pipeline
Over 28,000 people worked on the project, which cost $7.7 billion, way beyond the industry's $900,000 estimate in 1970. Money flowed easily. The industry decided to complete the project in record time, and it did, but at great cost. The separate company created by the leaseholders to build and operate the pipeline, the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, had to pay high wages and provide the best food, housing, and other amenities to keep the labor force working in the remote location.
The high wages and thousands of new jobs resulted in boomtown conditions in Fairbanks and Anchorage. Unemployment dropped to near zero in both cities as Alaskans left their routines to take advantage of the high wages and unusual circumstances. Off-duty workers spent lavishly in Fairbanks and Anchorage. But the sudden wealth also brought negative effects. Crime rates increased dramatically. Housing was difficult to find. Rent, food prices, and other costs skyrocketed.
On June 20, 1977, the first oil flowed into the pipeline, nine years after the initial discovery at Prudhoe Bay. The high-wage jobs created in constructing the pipeline and staffing the expanding oil industry around the state resulted in another large migration of people to Alaska. During the 1970s and 80s, the state's population increased by the third fastest rate in Alaska's history, behind only the Gold Rush and the war years of the 1940s and 50s.
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