Changelog

A colored-pencil drawing of the lone fourteen-storey building that houses most of Whittier, at the head of the fjord beneath snow-streaked mountains, now heads the town page.

Reads the live forecast for the water off Whittier and shows, hour by hour, when the wind eases enough to be out in a skiff or kayak — banded on the Beaufort scale. It's about the water, not the tunnel: wind doesn't close the tunnel, and the marine forecast and harbor have the final word.

A new planner for the round trip through the Anton Anderson Tunnel. Tell it when you need to be in Anchorage and it works back to the tunnel window to catch and when to leave; it always shows the last way home tonight and the latest you can leave Anchorage to make it, so you are not left on the wrong side overnight. It is the published schedule, not a live feed, and links Alaska 511 for live status.

Whittier is built around one fact: the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel is the only road in or out, it shares a single lane with the railroad, and it closes every night. The town page leads with a tunnel tool that works out, from your clock, the next opening each way and the last way home tonight — with the tolls, a seasonal-pass break-even calculator, and a flag for the freezing-weather rule. Alongside it: which days cruise ships are in and how busy the waterfront will be, who to call when there is no hospital in town, and a noticeboard for the picks and tips that usually travel by word of mouth.