Clinched Highway Mapping

Bickendan · Joined: 29 Jul 2008 Posts: 1018 Location: Portland, OR

The Northwest Territories is working on an all-weather 137 km extension of the Dempster Highway running north from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk, with an estimated completion time between Fall of 2012 and Fall of 2013. This would render the Mackenzie River and Arctic Ocean winter route obsolete and nullifying any future opportunities to drive on the ocean.

http://www.dot.gov.nt.ca/_live/documents/content/Project%20Description%20Report%20Inuvik%20to%20Tuktoyaktuk%20Highway.pdf

sipes23 · Joined: 14 Aug 2012 Posts: 25

Or is it an extension of NT 1?

http://www.dot.gov.nt.ca/_live/pages/wpPages/MVH_Overview.aspx

I'll have to keep an eye on this as road trip on the Dempster has has my eye for awhile.

oscar_voss · Joined: 27 Jul 2008 Posts: 622 Location: Arlington VA

I was just in Inuvik earlier this month. I didn't see any signs of road construction, though maybe I didn't drive far enough on Navy Road north of Inuvik to come across the (proposed) construction site. Navy Road, north of the apparent connector to the existing ice road shown in the Highway Browser, looked pretty gnarly, and at that point I was tired and anxious to check in to the hotel rather than do further exploring.

I also saw no signs of construction on the NT 1 extension north of Wrigley. It looks like it will follow the existing inland winter (not ice) road branching off from NT 1 south of Wrigley, but nothing is being done in the part of that right of way that I could see from NT 1. The first sign at the winter road entrance reminds that it is an "indictable offence" to traverse a winter road in the summer, which is probably intended to keep teenagers on ATVs from mucking up the soft surface and underlying permafrost, but also kept me from poking around the ROW.

oscar_voss · Joined: 27 Jul 2008 Posts: 622 Location: Arlington VA

Construction on the NT 8 extension to Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic coast is underway, after some initial construction work last year. Canada's Prime Minister visited Inuvik today to mark the occasion:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stephen-harper-to-kick-off-highway-construction-in-inuvik-1.2487543

See also:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/preparations-for-tuktoyaktuk-highway-construction-underway-1.1395133

This doesn't really fit in "6-Month Outlook", though, as construction is expected to take up to four years (one optimistic projection had completion in September 2016). It doesn't help that construction will take place mostly in the winter months, when the ground is firm enough to support heavy machinery.

The road will be built in several stages. However, since there are no communities or other destinations between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, I doubt that new road segments will be opened to non-construction traffic until the entire road is done. But it wouldn't shock me if in the meantime part of existing Navy Road between Inuvik and the construction site is added to NT 8 before the new road is completed all the way to Tuktoyaktuk.

The first article above also indirectly confirms the lack of progress on the NT 1 extension from Wrigley north to Norman Wells and ultimately to NT 8 south of Inuvik. There's already an overland winter road between Wrigley and Norman Wells, more reliable and with a longer operating season than the existing ice road on the river between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk.