MACKENZIE HIGHWAY

'Mackenzie Highway', which begins at Grimshaw, Alberta, comprises the entire length of 'Alberta Highway 35' and 'Northwest Territories Highway 1'. Originally begun prior to World War II, the project was abandoned at the outbreak of war, then resumed in the early 1960s and completed to Hay River, Northwest Territories.
In 1966-67, 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) and southeast to the capital city of Yellowknife. Most of this extension is now known as Northwest Territories Highway 3, the Great Slave Highway, named for the lake whose west end it circumnavigates. The 23.6 mile stretch from Enterprise to Hay River is now 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 Ndulee ferry crossing.
There are, at this time, only social and economic studies being done on the extension of the highway north from Wrigley to join the Dempster Highway.
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 gas station and joins the Liard Highway (Northwest Territories Highway 7, British Columbia Highway 77) from Fort Nelson, British Columbia.