  Dempster Highway | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yukon Highway 5 Northwest Territories Highway 8 | ||||
 | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by Department of Highways and Public Works | ||||
| Length | 737.5 km (458.3 mi) YT-5: 465 km (289 mi) NWT-8: 271 km (168 mi) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end |  Hwy 2 (Klondike Highway) nearDawson City, YT | |||
| North end |  Highway 10 (Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway),Inuvik, NT | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | Canada | |||
| Province | Yukon | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
TheDempster Highway, also referred to asYukon Highway 5 andNorthwest Territories Highway 8, is ahighway in Canada that connects theKlondike Highway in Yukon toInuvik, Northwest Territories on theMackenzie River delta. The highway crosses thePeel and the Mackenzie rivers using a combination of seasonalferry services andice bridges. Year-round road access from Inuvik toTuktoyaktuk opened in November 2017, with the completion of theInuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway,[1] creating the first all-weather road route connecting the Canadian road network with theArctic Ocean.
The highway is named forNorth-West Mounted Police (NWMP) officerWilliam Dempster, who earned renown for discovering the fate of a lost NWMP patrol in 1911.
The highway begins 40 km (25 mi) east ofDawson City, Yukon on theKlondike Highway. There are no highway or major road intersections along the highway's route. It extends 736 km (457 mi) in a north-northeasterly direction toInuvik, Northwest Territories, passing throughTombstone Territorial Park and crossing theOgilvie andRichardson mountain ranges.
The Dempster Highway roughly follows the old dog sled route from Dawson City toFort McPherson and is named for Corporal (later Inspector)William Dempster of theNorth-West Mounted Police.[2]
During the late 19th century, and in response to theKlondike Gold Rush, theNorth-West Mounted Police established a presence in the Yukon and Northwest Territories. Their activities included winterdog sled patrols between outposts and communities. One such patrol followed a route from Dawson City to the NWMP outpost at Fort McPherson, established in 1903.
In December 1910, NWMP InspectorFrancis Joseph Fitzgerald led three men on the annual winter patrol from Fort McPherson to Dawson City. They became lost on the trail, and subsequently died of exposure and starvation. When they failed to arrive in Dawson City as expected, Corporal Dempster and two constables were sent out on a rescue patrol in March 1911. Dempster and his men found the bodies of Fitzgerald's patrol on March 22, 1911.[3]
In 1958, as oil and gas exploration were expanding in theMackenzie Delta, the Canadian government decided to build a road from Dawson City in Yukon toAklavik in the Northwest Territories. The road was intended as an overland, year-round supply link to southern Canada.[4] Survey work began in 1958.[5]
With the August, 1959, discovery of oil in the Eagle Plains area, the government granted concessions to the oil industry to stimulate more exploration in the area. This provided more motivation for a road to transport equipment, infrastructure, and revenue to and from the sites.[4] Construction of the road, then known as Yukon Territorial Road No. 11, began at Dawson City in January 1959.[6] The northern terminus of the road was changed to the new town of Inuvik. Due to high costs and ongoing funding disagreements between the federal and Yukon governments, progress was slow until 1961. Once the Eagle Plains oil discovery was found to have no commercial potential, construction stopped in 1962 after 115 km (71 mi) of roadbed had been built.[4]
Seasonal maintenance of the existing road continued but no further work was done. In 1964, the road was renamed the Dempster Highway, after petitions by Vancouver Yukoners Association and the Yukon Order of Pioneers.[5] Construction resumed in 1970 as the Canadian government sought to assert sovereignty over their Arctic territories after the American discovery of oil and gas deposits atPrudhoe Bay, Alaska in 1968. Work was further motivated by speculation that an oil pipeline might be built in the Mackenzie Valley.
At the time of its construction, the highway was the most northerly major road project to date. Weather anddaylight conditions presented challenges. In 1979, a work crew was trapped in ablizzard in theRichardson Mountains and was almost lost.[5] Construction had to account for thepermafrost; heat transfer from the highway to the ground had to be prevented so the permafrost would not melt. To address this, the road was built on top of a gravel berm, ranging from 1.2 to 2.4 m (3 ft 11 in to 7 ft 10 in), to insulate the permafrost from the road above.[4] Some construction was completed by theCanadian Forces;3 Field Squadron, RCE fromCFB Chilliwack built bridges over the Ogilvie River in 1971[7] and the Eagle River in 1977.[8]
The final section of road was completed in 1978, at a cost of $132 million.[5] The highway was officially opened on August 18, 1979, at Flat Creek, Yukon.[6]
| Territory | Region | Location | km[9] | mi | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yukon | unorganized | | 0 | 0.0 | Hwy 2 (Klondike Highway) –Dawson City,Whitehorse | |
| 82 | 51 | North Fork Pass – 1,289 m (4,229 ft) | Highest point on the Dempster Highway | |||
| Eagle Plains | 369 | 229 | First available services | |||
| | 391 | 243 |  Wiley Aerodrome | Uses a portion of the highway as its runway. | ||
| 405 | 252 | Arctic Circle | ||||
| Yukon – Northwest Territories border | 465 | 289 |  Hwy 5 northern terminus • Highway 8 southern terminusOne hour time change (summer only) | |||
| Northwest Territories | Inuvik | | 539 | 335 | Crosses thePeel River MVAbraham Francis (June to October) •Ice bridge (late November to April)[10] | |
| Fort McPherson | 550 | 340 | Second and last available services | |||
| Tsiigehtchic | 608 | 378 | Crosses theMackenzie RiverMVLouis Cardinal (June to October) •Ice bridge (late November to April)[10] | |||
| Inuvik | 736 | 457 | Highway 10 north (Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway) –Tuktoyaktuk | |||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
| ||||||
| Highways |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Other roads | ||
