09.01.2025
Continuing my “Welcome to Fairbanks Tour”… we also stopped by the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). We’ve all heard about the Alaskan Pipeline… but who knew parts of it were above ground? Not me!!! As a Midwesterner, I guess I assumed it was all underground. Even crazier, it is built with these support beams that allow the actual tube to “slide” around throughout the seasons. Wait, what?… it moves??? And oh, but wait there’s more… the weird “tuning fork” pylons are there to help keep the ground under the pipeline cold enough all year long so it doesn’t sink into the melting ground. And, the weird “missle” thing is used to run up & down inside the tube to clean it out!!! So much going on here… I had no idea!!!
