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) near Dawson City, YT | |||
North end | Highway 10 (Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway), Inuvik, NT | |||
Location | ||||
Country | Canada | |||
Province | Yukon | |||
Highway system | ||||
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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.