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Lore Road is unique in that while many people use it as a main commuter road, its main purpose is to serve as a main residential road. The houses along Lore are all very nice and well maintained. There are several parks nearby, and main public bus routes. It has also undergone major construction recently, so the road itself is in great condition. The city has also added nice features like wider sidewalks and new intersections at Lore and the main roads like Lake Otis. For living the location is great. You're less than 2 minutes from the main shopping that is Dimond, including one of Anchorage's two malls, plus the regular retail Fred Meyer, Walmart, and banks. Dining in the area has a wide variety because it is generally seen as the nicer part of town. That being said, Lore road is removed enough that for college kids, or couples, rent's decent and affordable.

Elmore is perhaps the most frustrating road in Anchorage, not because of the atmosphere or condition of the road, but because of the way it is set up and mapped. First, Elmore appears to be a continuation of Bragraw Street on every map I've ever seen. However, this is the farthest thing from the truth. Bragraw ends at Northern Lights, and to get to Elmore you either have to start at Tudor after taking a detour around Lake Otis, or go through the University past the dorms and then hit Elmore. The frustrating thing about it, is that Elmore could very well be a secondary highway because it leads to everything, from just before downtown to south anchorage. It's also a very pretty road. It winds around a lot of untouched land and ends right up in the mountains. There's several residential districts around Elmore, and its ends come out in the main shopping areas of both Tudor and South Anchorage.

Muldoon Road is one of the busier roads in Anchorage. Its rush hour occurs three times a day, for a total of 6 hours. The reason being the road leads to Tudor, and is the only way to get to parts of midtown and south Anchorage without going through the Merril Field and downtown areas. Its the center of one of our three transit centers for the public bus system, and just 5 minutes from the local hospitals. Muldoon has always been considered a rougher, lower socioeconomic area of Anchorage, and in many ways it still is. However, the city has worked in recent years to revitalize the area. Its become a center for retail with the addition of a Target and new Glenn Square shopping center (Kohls, Lowes, and other large retailers are expected to hop on soon). Plus a new middle school and elementary school. There are a lot of neighborhoods with families close to Muldoon, and given the bad reputation, police are everywhere, which is making the area more secure.

Kluane Drive is a street that's more like a giant parking lot. It takes a second to drive from one end to the other, because it's simply a dead end street that houses roughly 8 four-plexes. The houses are the backyard of a local elementary school, but the middle and high school is miles away. It's also primarily a lower income neighborhood. It's not uncommon to see families of 4-6 living in the 1100 square foot home, and also not uncommon to see those families move out and in every 3 or 4 months. In the year I lived there, I can count 6 different incidences police showed up. The crime rates are high, and domestic disturbances a regular occurrence. The street itself is paved but broken with potholes and abrupt edges that make it a killer getting into the gravel parking lots to the apartment buildings. There's nothing of touristic value on the street, so there's no good reason to be there unless you're a tenant. In which case, just be prepared.

4th Avenue is the main center of Downtown Anchorage, which makes it a big attraction for tourists. It's home to our first City Hall, first Boney Courthouse, and new courthouse, as well as the historic 4th Avenue Theater. The city of Anchorage works really hard to maintain the roads downtown, including lining the street with old-fashioned green lampposts with hanging flower baskets in the summer and banners in the winter. There's a wide variety of restaurants that offer patio seating, and the sidewalks are almost the size of the road. It's a natural hotspot for outdoor performers and markets, given the outdoor ampitheater on the corner of 4th and D Street- locals and visitors alike love the hotdog stands offerring reindeer sausage and polish dogs. The downside- its popularity often creates a traffic jam. Expect to cruise around at 5 mph, and fight with cars constantly stopping and going to fit themselves into the parallel parking meters that line both sides of this two-way, one lane, street.