User:NorthernRaven/NWT Highway 1

NWT Highway 1 is the NWT portion of the Mackenzie Highway, running northwest from the junction with Alberta Highway 35 at the NWT-Alberta border.

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 1966-68, Highway 3 was constructed north to Yellowknife.

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 N'dulee ferry and ice crossings.

There are 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 former gas station at the junction with the Liard Highway (Northwest Territories Highway 7, British Columbia Highway 77) from Fort Nelson, British Columbia.