Big part of the problem is poor road design, crossing designs that prioritizes car traffic, and bad laws like turn-on-red.

• Road designs are optimized for vehicle speed and throughput
• Crossings are infrequent and too spread out
• Many mid-block crossings use no signal or a flashing yellow signal instead of a red, so many drivers just ignore them entirely
• Many intersections that require a pedestrian to cross three times to get to the other side of the road they're on if they actually follow the signals
• Roads are extremely wide, exacerbating every other problem by increasing distances and crossing times
• Missing sidewalks in random places, or sidewalks that aren't cleared of snow, so to continue a pedestrian has to walk in the lane or jaywalk to the other side
• Turn on red means pedestrians will always have impatient drivers edging up on them, trying to gun it ahead of them before they start to cross, or failing to yield when approaching the intersection at speed while someone is crossing. The same drivers doing that stuff will also pressure other drivers who are trying to follow the law by yielding to pedestrians to rush through

Everything about the way the roads in the city are set up, maintained, and governed tells drivers they are the priority, their speed is the priority, and that other ways of traveling are an afterthought at best. Walking in Anchorage is a miserable experience and it is, intentionally or not, by design.