Yellowknife Highway

Bridge over the Frank Channel near Behchoko

Buffalo along the Yellowknife Highway

Highway 3, known more commonly as the Yellowknife Highway, but also the Great Slave Highway, connects Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to Highway 1, from a junction 188 km (117 mi) north of the Alberta border. Built in 1968, the highway is now completely paved and realigned after years of work concluded in 2006.

The highway also connects with Behchoko (formerly Rae-Edzo) and Fort Providence. From Yellowknife, Highway 4 extends a further 70 km (43 mi) north, also providing access to the seasonal winter roads used by commercial trucking for mine resupply.

At the Mackenzie River (just south of Fort Providence), the crossing is achieved with a ferry service (May-January) and ice bridge (December to March). Transportation is interrupted in the spring for approximately five weeks when the ice bridge deteriorates but ice conditions prevent safe ferry operations. The Deh Cho Bridge, currently under construction, is scheduled to open in late 2011 to replace the ferry/ice bridge at this crossing.^[1]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Yellowknife Highway or Deh Cho Bridge or Merv Hardie (ship)

1. ^ A piece of history begins to melt