Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway

Highway 10, more commonly known as the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway (or ITH), is a road between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk in Canada's Northwest Territories. It is the "first all-weather road to Canada's Arctic Coast". The idea for the highway had been considered for decades, however final approval was not until 2013, with construction beginning in 2014. It was officially opened on 15 November 2017, and opens up Tuktoyaktuk to year round vehicle traffic, which is hoped to increase tourism in the area.

For many years, the Tuktoyaktuk Winter Road, an ice road, connected Inuvik with Tuktoyaktuk during the winter months across the frozen Mackenzie River delta channels and the frozen Arctic Ocean, which was up to 1000 metres (3,300 ft) deep underneath the highway.

The concept of an all-season highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyuktuk was first raised in the 1960s. In 1974, Public Works Canada completed a survey and technical study of a 140 km (87 mi) route between the towns. Upon campaigning during the spring 2011 election, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that it was his intention to complete the 138 km (86 mi) highway extension to Tuktoyaktuk. The 2012 federal budget announced $150 million for the project, and this commitment was increased in March 2013 to $200 million. The highway was seen as both a symbolic effort to link Canada's coastlines by road, and an aid in Arctic sovereignty and access to natural resources. The Inuvialuit completed an environmental review of the project in January 2013 and provided their approval. In March 2013 the territorial legislature approved $65 million for construction of the all-weather highway.

Construction of the highway began in January 2014, and was completed in two directions, with one crew working from the Inuvik side and a second working from the Tuktoyaktuk side. Permafrost presented a challenge for construction of the highway, with the surface melting, leaving much of the construction area under water. The first three years of the project saw crews working 24 hours per day, in the extreme cold and high winds of the arctic winter. By April 2016 the road was fully connected, but not open to traffic. The highway opened on 15 November 2017 and includes eight bridges and 359 culverts.

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