Liard Highway
The Liard Highway is a 378 km two-lane highway in Canada that is the only direct road link between British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. Passing through sparsely populated areas of boreal forest, it serves as the sole land access route for the communities of Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte.
Route
The highway begins at a point on the Alaska Highway northwest of Fort Nelson and runs northeast through expanses of the Canadian Boreal Forest to the border of British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. Beyond the border, it continues for as a very rough packed dirt and gravel road designated as Highway 7. It terminates at a junction with Territorial Highway 1 south of Fort Simpson.History
The highway was built between 1975 and 1982 and was officially opened to traffic in June 1984. The section in British Columbia was built under contracts with the Ministry of Transportation and Highways at a cost of $26 million. The section through the Northwest Territories section was built by the federal government at a cost of $55 million. British Columbia assigned the number 77 to its portion of the route in 1984.In 2012, Peter's Bros. Construction Ltd. was awarded a contract valued at $8,911,212.00 to pave over the existing sealcoat from the end of the existing pavement at in British Columbia to the border with the Northwest Territories, at. The project was completed in August 2012.
As of 2018, Highway 77 has been fully paved up to the border with the Northwest Territories.