Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Nenana, AK

Nenana is a home rule city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area of Interior Alaska, at the confluence where the Nenana River enters the Tanana River.

The Lower Tanana name for Nenana is Toghotili, and the town was first known to European Americans as Tortella, from Toghotthele, meaning mountain that parallels the river.

Nenana was formally incorporated as a city on November 17, 1921, after the Alaska Railroad's arrival in 1915 doubled its population.

At the 2020 census, Nenana had a population of 358, with 169 households.

Nenana is located 55 road miles southwest of Fairbanks on the George Parks Highway and 304 road miles north of Anchorage, at mile 412 of the Alaska Railroad.

The 700-foot Mears Memorial Bridge over the Tanana River was completed in 1923, and President Warren Harding drove the final golden spike at its north end that year; it was the longest railroad truss bridge in the United States when completed and remains the longest span in Alaska.

Nenana was the starting point for the 1925 serum run to Nome, after diphtheria antitoxin was carried by rail from Anchorage and then by dog sled to Nome.

Residents of Nenana sponsor the Nenana Ice Classic, a lottery begun in 1917 among Alaska Railroad surveyors who bet on the exact minute the Tanana River ice would break up, a contest that has paid out nearly 10 million dollars in prize money.

In 1967, Nenana was devastated by one of the largest floods ever recorded in the valley, and a 6 million dollar vehicle bridge across the Tanana River was completed in 1968, replacing the river ferry.

The George Parks Highway was completed in 1971, giving Nenana a shorter, direct road route to Anchorage.