Dempster Highway

Dempster Highway
Yukon Highway 5
Northwest Territories Highway 8
Route information
Maintained by Department of Highways and Public Works
Length737.5 km (458.3 mi)
YT-5: 465 km (289 mi)
NWT-8: 271 km (168 mi)
Major junctions
South end Hwy 2 (Klondike Highway) near Dawson City, YT
North end Highway 10 (Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway), Inuvik, NT
Location
CountryCanada
ProvinceYukon
Highway system
Hwy 4 Hwy 6
Highway 7 Highway 9

The Dempster Highway, also referred to as Yukon Highway 5 and Northwest Territories Highway 8, is a highway in Canada that connects the Klondike Highway in Yukon to Inuvik, Northwest Territories on the Mackenzie River delta. The highway crosses the Peel and the Mackenzie rivers using a combination of seasonal ferry services and ice bridges. Year-round road access from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk opened in November 2017, with the completion of the Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway,[1] creating the first all-weather road route connecting the Canadian road network with the Arctic Ocean.

The highway is named for North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) officer William Dempster, who earned renown for discovering the fate of a lost NWMP patrol in 1911.

  1. ^ "GCR - News - First ever road to Canada's Arctic coast to open this week". www.globalconstructionreview.com. Retrieved 2017-11-23.