Mackenzie Highway

Mackenzie Highway
Alberta Highway 35 Northwest Territories Highway 1
Route information
Length:	1,155 km (718 mi) AB-35: 465 km (289 mi) NWT-1: 690 km (428.7 mi)
Major junctions
South end:	Hwy 2 at Grimshaw, Alberta
	Hwy 690 near Deadwood Hwy 697 near Paddle Prairie Hwy 58 at High Level Highway 2 (Hay River Highway) at Enterprise Highway 3 (Yellowknife Highway) near Fort Providence Highway 7 (Liard Highway) near Fort Simpson
North end:	Wrigley, Northwest Territories
Highway system
Provincial highways in Alberta Northwest Territories highways ← Highway 8 Highway 2 →

Rapids on Trout River, from Mackenzie Highway 61°8′42″N 119°50′46″W / 61.14500°N 119.84611°W

The Mackenzie Highway 61°8′35″N 119°10′28″W / 61.14306°N 119.17444°W

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.^[1] After the first 5.0 km (3.1 mi), it becomes Alberta Highway 35 for the balance of its length through Alberta and then becomes Northwest Territories Highway 1.

The 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 23.6 miles (38 km) 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 23.6-mile (38.0 km) stretch from Enterprise to Hay River is 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 2.2 miles (3.5 km) 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.^[2]

Just east of Fort Simpson's airport, the highway crosses the Liard River by ferry (summer) and ice bridge (winter). 27.9 miles (45 km) 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.

Major intersections

Municipality	km	Mile	Destination	Notes
Town of Grimshaw	0.0	0.0	Intersects Alberta Highway 2A east	Begins as Highway 2
Municipal District of Peace No. 135	5	3	Intersects Alberta Highway 2 east	Continues as Highway 35
County of Northern Lights	14	9	Alberta Highway 737 (Warrensville Rd) west	Eastern terminus of Alberta Highway 737
	20	12	Alberta Highway 986 east	Western terminus of Alberta Highway 986
	63	39	Intersects Alberta Highway 690 east	Western terminus of Alberta Highway 690
Town of Manning	83	51	Intersects Alberta Highway 691 east	Western terminus of Alberta Highway 691
County of Northern Lights	219	136	Intersects Alberta Highway 697 east	Western terminus of Alberta Highway 697
Town of High Level	279	173	Intersects Alberta Highway 58 west	Southern terminus of Highway 58 concurrency
	280	174	Intersects Alberta Highway 58 east	Northern Terminus of concurrency with Highway 58
Mackenzie County	363	225	Intersects Zama Road
AB–NT border	465 0.0	289 0.0	Alberta–Northwest Territories border
Enterprise	83	52	Hwy 2 (Hay River Highway) north	Southern terminus of Highway 2
Near Fort Providence	186	115	Hwy 3 (Yellowknife Highway) north	Souther terminus of Highway 3
Near Fort Simpson	412	256	Hwy 7 (Liard Highway) south	Northern terminus of Highway 7
Wrigley	690	429		Northern terminus of Highway 1
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

References

1. "Discover the Peace Country – Grimshaw". Retrieved 2010-12-31.
2. "Executive Summary of the Benefit Cost and Economic Impact Analysis Mackenzie Valley Highway Extension" (PDF). NWT DoT. 1999. Retrieved 2011-01-06.

External links

• 1948 Mackenzie Highway, Grimshaw to Hay River
• Mackenzie Valley Highway to Tuktoyaktuk