Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road

The winter road is constructed by Nuna Logistics and RTL-Robinson every January and takes about six weeks to complete. On some lakes, traffic may be re-routed to new lanes to avoid damaged or rough sections of ice, and additional "express lanes" allow returning, empty trucks to travel at higher speeds. The highest allowable speed for fully loaded trucks on the ice is with some areas reduced to only . Empty trucks have a maximum speed limit of on the ice. Speed limits are strictly enforced by security personnel with radar used to clock speeds just as national and provincial police forces do. There are three road camps servicing drivers hauling loads along the road, they are at: Dome Lake Maintenance Camp, Lockhart Lake and Lac de Gras. Heavy and wide loads are dispatched from Yellowknife between 12:00 am and 6:00 am to avoid daily commuter traffic. The main product shipped is diesel fuel and other material includes "cement, tires, prill (ammonium nitrate) for explosives manufacture, and construction materials." ==History==

The Tibbitt to Contwoyto Ice Road follows part of the original road that was cleared to the Tundra Mine in 1960–1961 by John Denison. This road began at Discovery Mine which was already connected to Yellowknife by ice road up the Yellowknife River and swung east to Gordon Lake, heading north up Drybones, Lockhart and Mackay Lakes where the Tundra Mine was located. This route was used until 1968 when the mine closed. The road was reopened in 1979 as part of an equipment haul to the new Lupin Mine at Contwoyto Lake, now Nunavut but then the NWT, pioneered by Robinson's Trucking and Hugh Arden. It followed the old Discovery Mine to Gordon Lake route. An experimental operation, Lupin decided not to continue using the road at this time and relied instead on Hercules C-130 aircraft to haul in machinery during construction of the mine. In 1983, the ice road to Lupin Mine reopened as an economic alternative to yearly freight haul using aircraft. has been responsible for the annual construction, maintenance, dispatching, and camp catering for the primary road, with RTL Enterprises taking care of the secondary road. Det’on Cho is a Yellowknives Dene company with headquarters in N'Dilo and Scarlet Security, based in Yellowknife, is an Alarand affiliate. The year 2007 saw record usage of the ice road with 10,922 loads north, totalling . During the record 2007 season, there were 99 verbal, 5 written warnings and 5 speeding violations. the road featured in season 2 was the Tuktoyaktuk Winter Road. On 26 March 2026 Rio Tinto announced that the Diavik diamond mine had ceased production after 23 years of operations and more than 150 million carats of rough diamonds. Closure activities will extend to 2029. ==Routes==

Primary route The ice road begins about east of Yellowknife at the end of Highway 4, more commonly known as the Ingraham Trail. From there, it winds its way north the following destinations: The road ends in Jericho Diamond Mine, at the north end of Contwoyto Lake, Nunavut. With the closing of the Lupin and Jericho mines, the road is no longer built to Contwoyto Lake. According to the 2020 JVTC Map book the road is shorted to 367km at the Ekati Mine on Lac De Gras. Secondary route The secondary route begins about east of Yellowknife at Prosperous Lake. The road heads north across the lake just to the west of Cassidy Point and through Quyta Lake where some of the earliest gold samples were found in 1933. From there the road continues north to Johnston Lake and then northeast to Giauque Lake, with a road heading west to the old Discovery Mine, now the Yellowknife Gold Project operated by Tyhee Development. From Giauque the road travels east across Thistlethwaite Lake and northeast through Smokey Lake before joining the main route just north of Gordon Lake. ==Maps==

• Tibbitt Lake - • Dome Lake - • Lockhart Lake - • Snap Lake Diamond Mine - • Gahcho Kue Diamond Mine Project - • Lac de Gras - • Diavik Diamond Mine - • Misery - • Ekati Diamond Mine - • Pellatt Lake - • Lupin Mine - • Jericho Diamond Mine - • Prosperous Lake - • Cassidy Point - • Quyta Lake - • Johnston Lake - • Giauque Lake - • Yellowknife Gold Project - • Thistlethwaite Lake - • Smokey Lake - • Gordon Lake - ==Media==

The ice road was the location of the first season of Ice Road Truckers. This road inspired the Netflix movie The Ice Road. ==See also==