Canada’s road to the Arctic Don Bromfield took a look at one of Canada’s newest all-weather roads.
November of 2017 saw the opening of the final 140km of The Dempster Highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk – ‘Tuk’ – on the Arctic Ocean in Canada’s North West Territories.
Previously this stretch had been an ice road open only in winter, but four years of construction and $320 million completed a full 850km of gravel from near Dawson City, The Yukon’s famous Klondike goldrush town, to the First Nations settlement of Tuktoyaktuk, way above the Arctic Circle. Running parallel to Alaska’s famed Dalton Highway,the Dempster has the advantage of far less traffic and the real bonus of being able to ride a bike into the Arctic Ocean, unlike the Dalton which needs a frustrating bus ride for the final few kilometres.