Attu and Kiska are about 1300 miles from Seattle. Had the Japanese been able to build an airfield of sufficient size, they could have used long range bombers to bomb Seattle.
This threat caused the US military to really get moving to reinforce Alaska. For one they built the Alaska highway, and built several air bases. They needed a port that was as secure as possible to support all of this effort.
They found that Whittier was on a deep water, ice free piece of water near Prince William Sound. It was very isolated, and cut off from everything by mountains. It was also covered by clouds much of the time, so even if an enemy aircraft flew over it, the chances of them seeing the port was slim.
So the Army built a port facility, and cut a tunnel through the mountain, just big enough for a train to pass through. As ships unloaded cargo, it was placed on rail cars and transported throughout Alaska.
After the war, the military continued to use it as a port, but moved out in 1960. The port became a busy commercial fishing base, and there are hundreds of private yachts docked there also. To get vehicles through to Whittier, they had to be loaded on to flat bed rail cars and carried through the tunnel.
In 2000, the Alaska railroad modified the floor of the tunnel to make it possible for vehicles to drive through. Vehicles go through in one direction for about a half an hour, then it switches so traffic flows the other direction.
The tunnel is the longest vehicle tunnel in North America, 2 1/2 miles long.
Note the tall, skinny opening in the center of the A-frame. That is the opening to the tunnel at the Whittier end (other end looks the same) . Vehicles are lining up and waiting for the traffic to change directions. The sign is saying the change will occur at 6:00am. We got up at 4:45 to make the 6am tunnel opening.
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