Valdez, AK, United States

Position in regional infrastructure

Valdez sits at the head of Port Valdez on the eastern shore of Prince William Sound in southern Alaska, at coordinates 61.130353°N, 146.353341°W. The town is best known to the wider world as the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, where North Slope crude is loaded onto tankers at the Valdez Marine Terminal — the same fjord system where the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred. For submarine cable infrastructure, Valdez serves a different role: it is one of the principal beach-manhole points where Alaskan domestic and Alaska-to-Lower-48 cable systems make landfall, exploiting the sheltered deep water of the sound.

Four cable systems land at Valdez. Two of them — Alaska United East (AU-East) and NorthStar — extend south into the contiguous United States, providing the backhaul that connects Alaskan internet traffic to Pacific Northwest exchanges. The remaining two — FISH North and OTTER — are short regional cables interconnecting Valdez with neighbouring Alaskan communities along Prince William Sound, where mountainous terrain makes terrestrial fibre routes impractical or absent.

Submarine cables landing in Valdez

Alaska United East (AU-East) is a 3,751 km submarine cable system operated by GCI Communication Corp and in service since 1999. From Valdez it connects northward to Whittier and southward through Juneau before crossing the Gulf of Alaska to Lynnwood, Washington — providing one of two diverse Alaska-to-mainland-US routes carrying telecommunications and internet traffic for the state.

NorthStar is a 3,229 km submarine cable owned by Alaska Communications, also in service since 1999 and providing the second diverse path from Alaska to the Pacific Northwest. It links Valdez to Whittier within the sound and extends through Lena Point in southeast Alaska to Hillsboro, Oregon. The simultaneous 1999 deployment of AU-East and NorthStar by competing operators created the redundant terrestrial-grade connectivity that Alaska had previously lacked.

FISH North is a short 90 km regional submarine cable operated by Cordova Telecom Cooperative, in service since 2011. It crosses Prince William Sound to connect Valdez with Cordova on the eastern shore, where road access is limited and undersea fibre is the practical backhaul for community telecommunications.

Oceanic Tatitlek Telecommunications Enhancement Route (OTTER) is a regional cable connecting Valdez with the village of Tatitlek further into the sound. Length, ready-for-service date and ownership details are not catalogued in the GeoCables dataset.

Connection topology and redundancy

The two Alaska-to-Lower-48 cables here — AU-East and NorthStar — are operated by competing carriers (GCI and Alaska Communications), terminate in different Pacific Northwest states (Washington and Oregon), and were both placed in service in 1999. That deliberate diversity at landing, owner, and remote-end levels makes Valdez one of the more resilient mainland-Alaska submarine cable nodes; either operator can lose its primary cable and traffic continues to flow via the competing system.

The two regional cables (FISH North to Cordova, OTTER to Tatitlek) are short single-purpose links to neighbouring Alaskan communities. They concentrate at Valdez because the road network in this part of the Chugach region is sparse and undersea fibre across Prince William Sound is shorter and more reliable than overland routes through mountainous terrain. Together the four cables make Valdez both a long-haul gateway for Alaska's connection to the Lower 48 and a regional hub redistributing traffic to remote sound communities.

Geography and coordinates

The Valdez submarine cable landing point sits at 61.130353°N, 146.353341°W (61°07'49"N, 146°21'12"W) on Port Valdez at the head of Prince William Sound. The location is within the Chugach Census Area of the unorganised borough of southern Alaska. The deep, sheltered fjord waters of Port Valdez allow cables to descend immediately to a depth suitable for trenched burial without the long shore-end shallow-water sections required at exposed beach landings.

Frequently asked questions

What submarine cables land at Valdez, Alaska?

Four submarine cables land at Valdez: Alaska United East (AU-East), NorthStar, FISH North, and OTTER. AU-East and NorthStar are long-haul cables connecting Alaska to the Pacific Northwest; FISH North and OTTER are short regional cables to neighbouring Prince William Sound communities (Cordova and Tatitlek).

What are the coordinates of the Valdez cable landing?

The Valdez cable landing point is at 61.130353°N, 146.353341°W (61°07'49"N, 146°21'12"W), at the head of Port Valdez within Prince William Sound, Chugach Census Area, Alaska.

Which Alaskan and Pacific Northwest locations connect through Valdez?

Through AU-East, Valdez connects to Whittier and Juneau within Alaska and to Lynnwood, Washington in the Lower 48. Through NorthStar, Valdez connects to Whittier and Lena Point in Alaska and to Hillsboro, Oregon. Regional FISH North reaches Cordova, and OTTER reaches Tatitlek within Prince William Sound.

When were the first submarine cables laid at Valdez?

The earliest documented Valdez landings in the GeoCables dataset are AU-East and NorthStar, both ready for service in 1999. Their simultaneous deployment by competing operators (GCI and Alaska Communications) gave Alaska its first redundant submarine cable connections to the contiguous United States.

Who operates the cables landing at Valdez?

AU-East is operated by GCI Communication Corp; NorthStar by Alaska Communications; FISH North by Cordova Telecom Cooperative. Ownership of OTTER is not catalogued in the GeoCables dataset.