The James Bay Road (french: Route de la Baie James), officially the Route Billy-Diamond Highway, is a remote wilderness highway winding its way through the

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...

in northwestern

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

and reaches into the

James Bay James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost p ...

region. It starts in Matagami as an extension of Route 109 and ends at Radisson. The road is fully paved, well maintained, and plowed during the winter. It was originally constructed to carry loads of 300 tons, and has mostly gentle curves and hills with wide shoulders. The road is maintained by the Eeyou Istchee James Bay Regional Government (formerly by the municipality of Baie-James). Connecting to other routes such as the

Trans-Taiga Road The Trans-Taiga Road (french: Route Transtaïga) is an extremely remote wilderness road in northern Quebec, Canada. It is long to Centrale Brisay and another along the Caniapiscau Reservoir, all of it unpaved. Description The road's northeas ...

and the ''

Route du Nord The (French for North Road) is an isolated wilderness road in central Quebec, Canada, connecting Chibougamau with the James Bay Road (french: Route de la Baie James, links=no) at km 275. It is long, all of it unpaved. Extensive logging takes p ...

,'' the highway draws tourists interested in reaching the remote wilderness surrounding

, part of

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...

. On November 10, 2020, the James Bay Road was renamed in honour of Billy Diamond, former Grand Chief of the

Grand Council of the Crees The Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) or the GCC(EI) (ᐄᔨᔨᐤ ᐊᔅᒌ in Cree), is the political body that represents the approximately 18,000 Cree people (who call themselves "Eeyou" or "Eenou" in the various dialects of East ...

and chief Cree negotiator of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. There is currently a proposal supported by the region's

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations. In Canada, over 350,000 people are Cree o ...

communities to build a gravel extension some further north to the twin communities on the

Great Whale River The Great Whale River () is a river in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada. It flows from Lac Saint-Luson through Lac Bienville west to Hudson Bay. While lower section of the river (after Lac Bienville) has very powerful current, with many waterfalls (up t ...

- the

village of

Whapmagoostui Whapmagoostui ( cr, ᐙᐱᒫᑯᔥᑐᐃ/Wâpimâkuštui, "place of the beluga") is the northernmost Cree village in Quebec, Canada, located at the mouth of the Great Whale River (french: Grande Rivière de la Baleine) on the coast of Hudson B ...

and the northern (primarily

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territorie ...

) village of Kuujjuarapik, in the

Nunavik Nunavik (; ; iu, ᓄᓇᕕᒃ) comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, part of the Nord-du-Québec region and nearly coterminous with Kativik. Covering a land area of north of the 55th parallel, it is the homeland of the ...

region.

History

The James Bay Road was conceived as an access road for the hydroelectric projects developed in the James Bay region in the 1970s and onwards. Construction began in 1971 and was completed in October, 1974. Gravel branch routes have since been built from the highway, including four roads west to

villages on or near James Bay (the one to

Chisasibi Chisasibi ( cr, ᒋᓵᓰᐲ, translit=Cisâsîpî; meaning Great River) is a village on the eastern shore of James Bay, in the Eeyou Istchee equivalent territory (ET) in northern Quebec, Canada. It is situated on the south shore of La Grande ...

is paved for most of the way). The

(french: Route Transtaïga, links=no) was built and reached Caniapiscau in 1979. The long ''

'' (North Road), which also is not a numbered route, connects from km 275 (measured from Matagami) southeast to near

Chibougamau Chibougamau () is the largest town in Nord-du-Québec, central Quebec, Canada. Located on Lake Gilman it has a population of 7,504 people (2016 Canadian Census). Chibougamau is surrounded by, but not part of, the local municipality of Eeyou Istc ...

Description

There are no services and development along the full length of the James Bay Road, except for a full-service station at from Matagami. The station at Km 381 is operational 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and is complete with cafeteria and rudimentary lodging. In view of the remote nature of this road, there is a registration office along the side of the road for travellers to register just a few kilometers north from Matagami. It is staffed 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. This office also serves as a tourist office for all communities along or off the James Bay Road. As further safety provisions, there are six roadside emergency telephones which connect with staff in the registration office.

Waypoints

Image gallery

Image:James_Bay_Road_Check_Point.jpg, The James Bay Road Check Point Image:To_Radisson_on_James_Bay_Road.jpg, Distances to each town, from the Check Point. Image:SOS_phone_station_on_the_James_Bay_Road.jpg, S.O.S. phone stations along the James Bay Road Image:James_Bay_Road_fuel_station.jpg, James Bay Road fuel station Image:James Bay Road Hazard.jpg, Road hazard

References

External links