South end: Hwy 2A in Grimshaw Length 1,160 km | North end: Wrigley Major cities High Level | |
 | ||
Major
junctions: Hwy 2 near Grimshaw
Hwy 986 near Grimshaw
Hwy 697 near Paddle Prairie
Hwy 58 at High Level Major
junctions: Highway 2 at Enterprise
Highway 3 near Fort Providence
Highway 7 near Fort Simpson | ||
Hay river yellowknife mackenzie highway
The Mackenzie Highway is a Canadian highway in northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories. It begins as Alberta Highway 2 at Mile Zero in Grimshaw, Alberta. After the first 4.0 km (2.5 mi), it becomes Alberta Highway 35 for the balance of its length through Alberta and then becomes Northwest Territories Highway 1.
Contents
Map of MacKenzie Hwy, Canada
Route description
The Mackenzie Highway is designated as part of Canada's National Highway System, holding core route status from its terminus at Grimshaw to its intersection with the Yellowknife Highway, and northern/remote route status for the remainder of the route to its northern terminus at Wrigley.
Originally begun in 1938, prior to World War II, the project was abandoned at the outbreak of war, then resumed in the late 1940s and completed to Hay River, Northwest Territories in 1948/1949, though some sections, particularly in the vicinity of Steen River, remained difficult.
In 1960, it was extended from Enterprise, approximately 39 km (24 mi) south of Hay River, to the northwest, then north past Fort Providence to Behchoko (at the time, known as Rae-Edzo) and southeast to the City of Yellowknife, which became the capital of the Northwest Territories in 1967. Much of this extension is now known as Northwest Territories Highway 3, the Yellowknife Highway. The 39 km (24 mi) stretch from Enterprise to Hay River is Northwest Territories Highway 2.
In approximately 1970, the highway was extended west from what is now the southern terminus of Highway 3 to reach Fort Simpson, and in 1971, when the section to Fort Simpson was opened to traffic, work began to prepare a road grade from there to Wrigley, but the work was abandoned. This roadway, which starts at a junction 3.5 km (2.2 mi) from the island that "downtown" Fort Simpson is situated on, was finally made usable in 1994, and includes the N'dulee ferry and ice crossings.
There are social and economic studies being done on the extension of the highway north from Wrigley to join the Dempster Highway; the N.W.T. government has completed 34 bridges across all but six of the widest river crossings, serving the ice road and awaiting the all-weather route.
Just east of Fort Simpson's airport, the highway crosses the Liard River by ferry (summer) and ice bridge (winter). 45 km (28 mi) further east of this crossing, the location known as Checkpoint is the site of a former gas station at the junction with the Liard Highway (Northwest Territories Highway 7, British Columbia Highway 77) from Fort Nelson, British Columbia.