Knik River
Railroad bridge on Knik River, from the Glenn Highway
Origin	Knik Glacier 61°24′25″N 148°34′00″W / 61.40694°N 148.5666667°W / 61.40694; -148.5666667
Mouth	Cook Inlet, at Anchorage / Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Length	25 miles (40 km)

The Knik River ( /kˈnɪk/) is a 25-mile-long (40 km) river in the U.S. state of Alaska. Its source is at Knik Glacier, from which it flows northwest and west and empties into the head of Cook Inlet's Knik Arm, near the mouth of the Matanuska River. It is bridged twice (old and new bridges) where the Old Glenn Highway crosses it near the Butte,^[1] and also bridged on the Hayflats.

It is characterized by a broad flat plain with a bed of finely ground gravel and sand. The river itself is relatively shallow and wide and considered a class I float. It drops about 400 feet from the glacier to the Salt water, or roughly 16 feet per mile. Discharge normally is about 5000 to 6000 ft3/s (140 to 170 m3/s).^[2]

The term "knik," present in the names of the river, the arm of Cook Inlet, and the glacier, as well as the communities of Knik-Fairview and Knik River, derives from the Inupiaq word igniq ("fire").

The river runs near the border between the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the Municipality of Anchorage. Much of its length is paralleled by the paved Old Glenn Highway and the paved (as of 2000) Knik River Road, along which can be found the community of Knik River.

See also[link]

• List of Alaska rivers

References[link]

Coordinates: 61°28′15″N 149°24′23″W / 61.47083°N 149.40639°W / 61.47083; -149.40639