The new highway will extend the Dempster Highway from Inuvik through to the Arctic coast. The Dempster Highway - Canada’s first all-weather road to cross the Arctic Circle - sits on top of a gravel berm to insulate the permafrost in the soil underneath. The thickness of the gravel pad ranges from 1.2m up to 2.4m in some places. Without the pad, the permafrost would melt and the road would sink into the ground.
The Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway involves the construction of a 137-kilometre gravel road, which will provide year-round overland access to Tuktoyaktuk on the Beaufort Sea, currently only served by an ice road, barge or air. Once completed, the link will connect Canada by road for the first time from sea to sea to sea.
The government of Canada has committed CA$200m (£109m) to the project, which is expected to bring regional economic and social benefits including providing more efficient transport of northern products and resources to southern markets, reducing the costs of onshore oil and gas exploration and development, better connecting Northerners to jobs and helping bring lower-cost supplies and materials to the north.
In addition to strengthening the local and territorial economies, the all-season Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk highway will decrease the cost of living in Tuktoyaktuk by enabling goods to be shipped year round by road.
It is estimated that nearly 2,000 jobs will be created over the four-year construction period, in addition to an estimated 51 permanent jobs after the project is completed.
The government of the Northwest Territories also identified the road between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk as a priority and committed CA$99m to its completion. It will be responsible for the full implementation of the project, and all costs necessary for its implementation over and above the CA$200m federal contribution.
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