Numbered highways in Canada

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Highways in Canada's provinces and territories

Numbered highways in Canada are split by province, and a majority are maintained by their province or territory transportation department. With few exceptions, all highways in Canada are numbered. Nonetheless, every province has a number of highways that are better known locally by their name rather than their number. Some highways have additional letters added to their number: A is typically an alternate route, B is typically a business route, and other letters are used for bypass (truck) routes, connector routes, scenic routes, and spur routes. The territory of Nunavut has no highways.

Contents

Classifications

This is a breakdown of the classifications of highways in each province, and an example shield of each classification where available.

Trans-Canada

Alberta

British Columbia

Manitoba

New Brunswick

Newfoundland and Labrador

Nova Scotia

Ontario

Provincial highways (the King's Highway) in Ontario are divided into four classes:

Prince Edward Island

Quebec

Saskatchewan

Northwest Territories

Yellowknife Highway Shield.svg


There are currently ten territorial highways in the Northwest Territories. All are named as well as numbered 1-10.

Other roads include the Mackenzie Valley winter road system that extends Northwest Territories Highway 1, the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road, and the Dettah Ice Road extending from Yellowknife to the community of Dettah.

The now-closed Tuktoyaktuk Winter Road and Tłı̨chǫ winter road systems were replaced by the Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway (which extended from the northern terminus of the Dempster Highway) and the Tłı̨chǫ Highway (extending from the Yellowknife Highway), respectively.

Nunavut

There are a number of roads and highways in Nunavut; none are yet numbered.

Yukon

Yukon Highway 4.svg There are currently fourteen territorial highways in Yukon. All fourteen are named and numbered 1-11, 14-15, & 37.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwest Territories</span> Territory of Canada

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately 1,127,711.92 km2 (435,412.01 sq mi) and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada. Its estimated population as of the second quarter of 2024 is 44,920. Yellowknife is the capital, most populous community, and only city in the territory; its population was 20,340 as of the 2021 census. It became the territorial capital in 1967, following recommendations by the Carrothers Commission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whatì</span> First Nation in Northwest Territories, Canada

Whatì, officially the Tłı̨chǫ Community Government of Whatì is a First Nations community in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Whatì is located by Lac La Martre, about 164 km (102 mi) northwest of the territorial capital of Yellowknife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellowknife</span> Capital city of the Northwest Territories, Canada

Yellowknife is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about 400 km (250 mi) south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the outlet of the Yellowknife River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inuvik</span> Arctic town in the Northwest Territories, Canada

Inuvik is the only town in the Inuvik Region, and the third largest community in Canada's Northwest Territories. Located in what is sometimes called the Beaufort Delta Region, it serves as its administrative and service centre and is home to federal, territorial, and Indigenous government offices, along with the regional hospital and airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tłı̨chǫ</span> First Nations people in Canada

The Tłı̨chǫ people, sometimes spelled Tlicho and also known as the Dogrib, are a Dene First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">400-series highways</span> Ontario freeway network

The 400-series highways are a network of controlled-access highways in the Canadian province of Ontario, forming a special subset of the provincial highway system. They are analogous to the big highway system. With really big highways. Known as the Interstate Highway System in the United States of America or the Autoroute system of neighbouring Quebec, and are regulated by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO). The 400-series designations were introduced in 1952, although Ontario had been constructing divided highways for two decades prior. Initially, only Highways 400, 401 and 402 were numbered; other designations followed in the subsequent decades. The network is situated almost entirely in Southern Ontario, although Highway 400 extends into the more remote northern portion of the province.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dempster Highway</span> Highway in Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories, Canada

The Dempster Highway, also referred to as Yukon Highway 5 and Northwest Territories Highway 8, is a highway in Canada that connects the Klondike Highway in Yukon to Inuvik, Northwest Territories on the Mackenzie River delta. The highway crosses the Peel and the Mackenzie rivers using a combination of seasonal ferry services and ice bridges. Year-round road access from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk opened in November 2017, with the completion of the Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway, creating the first all-weather road route connecting the Canadian road network with the Arctic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Highways in Nunavut</span>

There are an estimated 850 km (530 mi) of roads and highways across the Canadian territory of Nunavut, which is the only province/territory not connected by road to other parts of Canada.

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 4.0 km (2.5 mi), it becomes Alberta Highway 35 for the balance of its length through Alberta and then becomes Northwest Territories Highway 1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Behchokǫ̀</span> Community in Northwest Territories, Canada

Behchokǫ̀, officially the Tłı̨chǫ Community Government of Behchokǫ̀, is a community in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Behchokǫ̀ is located on the Yellowknife Highway, on the northwest tip of Great Slave Lake, approximately 110 km (68 mi) northwest of Yellowknife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wekweètì</span> First Nation in Northwest Territories, Canada

Wekweètì, officially the Tłı̨chǫ Community Government of Wekweètì is a community in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Wekweètì is a Tłı̨chǫ aboriginal community and is located 195 km (121 mi) north of Yellowknife. It has no year-round road access but does have a winter ice road connection; the majority of transportation to and from the community is through the Wekweètì Airport. Wekweètì is the closest community to the Ekati Diamond Mine on the border with Nunavut. Wekweètì is part of the Tlicho Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Northwest Territories</span>

The history of the Northwest Territories covers the period from thousands of years ago to the present day. Prior to European colonization, the lands that encompass present-day Northwest Territories were inhabited for millennia by several First Nations. European explorers and fur traders began to explore the region since the late-16th century. By the 17th century, the British laid claim to both the North-Western Territory and Rupert's Land; and granted the Hudson's Bay Company a commercial fur trade monopoly over the latter region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prohibition in Canada</span> Historic alcohol ban in Canada

Prohibition in Canada was a ban on alcoholic beverages that arose in various stages, from local municipal bans in the late 19th century, to provincial bans in the early 20th century, and national prohibition from 1918 to 1920. The relatively large and powerful beer and alcohol manufacturing sector, and the huge working class that purchased their products, failed to convince any of the governments to reverse their stance on prohibition. Most provinces repealed their bans in the 1920s, though alcohol was illegal in Prince Edward Island from 1901 to 1948. By comparison, the Ontario Temperance Act was in effect from 1916 to 1927.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of the Northwest Territories</span>

The Northwest Territories is a territory in Northern Canada, specifically in Northwestern Canada between Yukon Territory and Nunavut including part of Victoria Island, Melville Island, and other islands on the western Arctic Archipelago. Originally a much wider territory enclosing most of central and northern Canada, the Northwest Territories was created in 1870 from the Hudson's Bay Company's holdings that were sold to Canada from 1869-1870. In addition, Alberta and Saskatchewan were formed from the territory in 1905. In 1999, it was divided again: the eastern portion became the new territory of Nunavut. Yellowknife stands as its largest city and capital. It has a population of 42,800 and has an area of 532,643 sq mi (1,379,540 km2). The current territory lies west of Nunavut, north of latitude 60° north, and east of Yukon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road</span> Highway in the Northwest Territories

Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road is an annual ice road first built in 1982 to service mines and exploration activities in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Northern Canada. Between 400 and 600 km long, the road is said to be the world's longest heavy haul ice road and operates for eight to ten weeks starting in the last week of January. Most of the road (85%–87%) is built over frozen lakes, 495 km (308 mi), with the remaining 73 km (45 mi) built on over 64 land portages between lakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellowknife Highway</span> Major road in the Northwest Territories, Canada

The Yellowknife Highway, officially Northwest Territories Highway 3 and also known as the Great Slave Highway, is a highway connecting Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, to the Mackenzie Highway, from a junction 188 km (117 mi) north of the Alberta 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, or boat across Great Slave Lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingraham Trail</span> Highway in the Northwest Territories

Highway 4, known as the Ingraham Trail, extends from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to Tibbitt Lake, approximately 70 km (43 mi) east of Yellowknife. It was built in the mid-1960s as the first leg of a 'road to resources' with the original intention of encircling Great Slave Lake.

The Tłı̨chǫ Highway, also known as the Tłı̨chǫ All-Season Road and officially Northwest Territories Highway 9, is a 97-kilometre (60 mi) gravel road in Northwest Territories, Canada. The road connects the Tłı̨chǫ First Nations community of Whatì to the Yellowknife Highway with a permanent all-season road, while also improving winter road access to Gamètì and Wekweètì.