And then take a look at how little of Alaska is actually served by that road system. Yes, this shows all of Alaska's roads that go anywhere. It's pretty incredible. Alaska is the only US state with a capital that you can't drive to (that would be Juneau, in the southeastern panhandle, if you're having trouble remembering your obscure state capitals). The state has a marine highway system, aka ferry system, that totes people and cars around, and that system does service much of the southern coastline (the panhandle, or "Inside Passage," to almost halfway out the Aleutian chain), but service is infrequent and apt to sell out quickly.
Consider, for instance, that if you live in Dutch Harbor, at the end of the ferry service on the Aleutian chain, you can catch a ferry that will get you to the Kenai Peninsula from which you can get to Anchorage reasonably inexpensively. You can only do it once a month, though, and you'd have to wait until the next month to get back. The ferry takes almost three days and will set you back $325... one way. Oh, and the ferry only runs June through September. It makes a $500 (to $900) one way plane ticket seem like a bargain! For those who live outside of the road system, the ferry is certainly a link to the rest of the world, but it isn't particularly helpful when you break your arm.
In the end, the ferry really doesn't extend the road system very much. Outside of the red box area, the only road of consequence is the long road up to the Arctic Ocean. That's the Dalton Highway, a multi-day long drive on a gravel road that ends at Prudhoe Bay, and the start of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. (The "inconsequential" road, going northeast, ends at the Yukon River.) That's it. The only other spot in the state you can drive your car to is a couple of towns in the very north of the panhandle, right on the Canadian border. Anywhere else you want to go, you have to take a plane or a boat or dogsled or your feet. (There are other roads in the state, but you can't drive to them.)
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