 Highway 686 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byAlberta Transportation | ||||
| Length | 91.72 km[1] (56.99 mi) | |||
| Main segment | ||||
| Length | 89.55 km (55.64 mi) | |||
| West end |  Highway 88 atRed Earth Creek | |||
| East end | Trout Lake | |||
| Fort McMurray segment (Parsons Access Road) | ||||
| Length | 2.17 km (1.35 mi) | |||
| West end | North Parsons Gateway (road) | |||
| East end |  Highway 63 inFort McMurray | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | Canada | |||
| Province | Alberta | |||
| Specialized and rural municipalities | M.D. of Opportunity No. 17 R.M. of Wood Buffalo | |||
| Major cities | Fort McMurray | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
Alberta Provincial Highway No. 686, also known asHighway 686, is an east–west highway innorthern Alberta, Canada. It has two sections; the main section is a gravel highway that spans approximately 90 kilometres (56 mi) fromHighway 88 (Bicentennial Highway) nearRed Earth Creek toTrout Lake, and a two-kilometre-long (1.2 mi) developingfreeway section inFort McMurray which connectsHighway 63 with the new neighbourhood of Parsons Creek known asParsons Access Road.[1]
Highway 686 comprises the western segment of the partially constructed Northern Alberta East–West Highway Corridor.[2]
Highway 686 used to continue west from Red Earth Creek to theMackenzie Highway (Highway 35), approximately 37 kilometres (23 mi) northwest ofPeace River; the highway was renumbered toHighway 986 in the mid-1990s.[3][4]
In 2015, the Parsons Access Road was opened in Fort McMurray which connected Highway 63 to the developing residential neighbourhood Parsons Creek, with interchanges at Highway 63 (known as the Parsons Creek Interchange) and the access road currently referred to as theNorth Parsons Gateway.[5]
In 2009, the provincial government completed a study on a 218 km (135 mi)} east–west highway connection between Fort McMurray and Red Earth Creek, connecting with Highway 686 north ofPeerless Lake.[6] As part of the highway, the Fort McMurray portion would be a short freeway with connections to Parsons Creek and Confederation Way/Thickwood Boulevard.[7] The Parsons Creek Interchange at Highway 63 was staged to accommodate an eastern extension across theAthabasca River.[8] In April 2023, the province signed agreements withLoon River First Nation,Peerless Trout First Nation andBigstone Cree Nation to begin work on the extension, as well as paving of the existing segment between Red Earth Creek and Trout Lake.[9]
Following the2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire, theRegional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council unanimously voted in support of a second highway that would serve as an alternate evacuation route tentatively called the "East Clearwater Highway".[10] It would run east of Fort McMurray as an extension ofHighway 881 nearAnzac, crossing theClearwater River and continue north towardsFort MacKay. As part of the project, Highway 686 would continue east across the Athabasca River and connect with the new highway.[11]
Starting from the west end of Highway 686:
| Rural/specialized municipality | Location | km[12] | mi | Destinations | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M.D. of Opportunity No. 17 | Red Earth Creek | 0.0 | 0.0 | Highway 88 (Bicentennial Highway) –Fort Vermilion,Slave Lake ToHighway 986 west –Peace River | |||
| | 53.4 | 33.2 | road | Future Hwy 686 extension | |||
| Peerless Lake | 64.2 | 39.9 | |||||
| Trout Lake | 89.6 | 55.7 | |||||
| 200-kilometre (120 mi) gap in Hwy 686 | |||||||
| R.M. of Wood Buffalo | Fort McMurray | 0.0 | 0.0 | North Parsons Gateway | Interchange | ||
| 2.1 | 1.3 | Highway 63 –Fort MacKay,Edmonton | Interchange | ||||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||||
