Bridge over the Frank Channel near Behchoko

The Yellowknife Highway, officially Northwest Territories Highway 3 and also known as the Great Slave Highway, is a highway connecting

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

, to the

Mackenzie Highway The Mackenzie Highway is a Canadian highway in northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories. It begins as Alberta Highway 2 at ''Mile Zero'' in Grimshaw, Alberta. After the first , it becomes Alberta Highway 35 for the balance of its length ...

, from a junction north of the

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

border. First completed in 1960 as a gravel and dirt road, the highway is now paved and realigned after years of work concluded in 2006. Access to Yellowknife prior to the opening of the Yellowknife Highway was possible only by airplane,

winter road A winter road is a seasonal road only usable during the winter, i.e. it has to be re-built every year. This road typically runs over land and over frozen lakes, rivers, swamps, and sea ice.Proskin et al, 2011. Guidelines for the Construction an ...

, or boat across

Great Slave Lake Great Slave Lake (french: Grand lac des Esclaves), known traditionally as Tıdeè in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì (Dogrib), Tinde’e in Wıìlıìdeh Yatii / Tetsǫ́t’ıné Yatıé (Dogrib / Chipewyan), Tu Nedhé in Dëne Sųłıné Yatıé (Chi ...

. The highway also connects with

Behchokǫ̀ Behchokǫ̀ ( ɛ́ht͡ʃʰókʰõ̀or ɛ́ht͡sʰókʰõ̀ ) (from the Tłı̨chǫ meaning "Behcho's place"), officially the ''Tłı̨chǫ Community Government of Behchokǫ̀,'' is a community in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territor ...

(formerly Rae-Edzo) and

Fort Providence Fort Providence ( den, Zhahti Koe, Zhahti Kue, lit=mission house) is a hamlet in the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Located west of Great Slave Lake, it has all-weather road connections by way of the Yellowknife Highway ...

. From Yellowknife, Highway 4 extends a further north, also providing access to the seasonal winter roads used by commercial trucking for mine resupply. Crossing the Mackenzie River (just south of Fort Providence) between 1960 and November 2012 required a ferry service (May–January) and

ice bridge An ice bridge is a frozen natural structure formed over seas, bays, rivers or lake surfaces. They facilitate migration of animals or people over a water body that was previously uncrossable by terrestrial animals, including humans. The most sign ...

(December to March). Transportation was interrupted in the spring for approximately five weeks when the ice bridge became unsafe but ice conditions prevented safe ferry operations. The ferry-vessel ''Johnny Berens'' served from 1961 to 1972, and the MV ''Merv Hardie'' served from 1972 to 2012. The

Deh Cho Bridge The Deh Cho Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge across a span of the Mackenzie River on the Yellowknife Highway (Highway 3) near Fort Providence, Northwest Territories. Construction began in 2008 and was expected to be completed in 2010 but faced ...

opened on November 30, 2012, and replaced the ferry/ice bridge. Trucks pay tolls on northbound crossings, with pre-registered trucks using an electronic device being charged automatically. Private passenger vehicles do not pay a toll. Estimated costs have more than tripled since 2003.A piece of history begins to melt
/ref> In 2022, the

Tłı̨chǫ All-Season Road The Tłı̨chǫ All-Season Road (TASR), officially Northwest Territories Highway 9, is a gravel road in Northwest Territories, Canada. The road connects the Tłı̨chǫ First Nations community of Whatì to the Yellowknife Highway The Yellow ...

will open as a branch from the Yellowknife Highway.

Major intersections

References

{{NT Roads Northwest Territories territorial highways