Weeks after the Pearl Harbor attack, Japanese warships were reported in Alaskan waters. This energized a defense program already underway in Alaska to improve and extend naval and air bases on the mainland and in the Aleutian Islands. No overland route connected Alaska with the contiguous United States. In early 1942, Canadian and United States officials planned the Alaska Military Highway (later renamed the Alaskan-Canadian Highway). Utah Construction joined other companies in an all-out effort to complete the highway in just over eight months.