$405M announced for Mackenzie Valley Highway assessment, bridges

$405M announced for Mackenzie Valley Highway assessment, bridges Natasha Bulowski and Alice Twa Tuesday September 8, 2026 at 8:13am MT Federal transport minister Steven MacKinnon, left, and NWT deputy premier Caroline Wawzonek at Yellowknife Airport. Emily Blake/Cabin Radio Share The federal government is investing $405 million to advance design work on the Mackenzie Valley Highway and the building of related bridges – the biggest investment yet in the project. The federal dollars will be used to finalize a portion of the Mackenzie Valley Highway’s environmental assessment and its design between Wrigley and Norman Wells. Cash will also go toward construction of the two-lane Great Bear River Bridge near Tulita, the second phase of the Prohibition Creek Access Road, and preliminary engineering and design work for two new bridges along Highway 1 over the Liard River (outside Fort Simpson) and Mackenzie River (en route to Wrigley). While it is a fraction of the sum needed to build the highway, the $405 million – announced by federal transportation minister Steven MacKinnon, Crown-Indigenous relations minister Rebecca Alty and NWT deputy premier Caroline Wawzonek in Norman Wells – represents a large chunk of the $1-billion federal Arctic Infrastructure Fund, recently launched to support large projects serving both defence and civilian needs. The investment “will help build more dependable connections, strengthen supply chains, create economic opportunities and improve access to essential services,” MacKinnon was quoted as saying in a Tuesday news release. Advertisement. Advertisement. The federal government did not provide a breakdown of how much money would go to each aspect of the project. Construction to take three to four years In a related development, new documents submitted to the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board show the GNWT’s latest corridor for the Mackenzie Valley Highway and its proposed construction timeline. The highway up until Fort Good Hope would roughly follow the existing Mackenzie Valley Winter Road. Past Fort Good Hope into the Gwich’in Settlement Area, there are four proposed corridor options: the first follows the Gwich’in Tribal Council’s preferred route in 2011 and ends 20 km southeast of Inuvik; the second follows a route proposed by the Tetł’it Gwich’in Council and would connect to the Dempster Highway approximately five kilometres north of Tsiigehtchic; and the final two routes, based on a Public…