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Icy roads close North Klondike Highway and the Silver Trail

Rain with temperatures hovering from zero to plus two make for unsafe driving
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Dawson City’s ice-caked streets on morning of Friday October 22. (Lawrie Crawford/Yukon News)

Residents of Dawson City woke up to the streets of Dawson caked with ice.

“It’s a skating rink out there,” texted the mayor-elect of Dawson City, Bill Kendrick.

The Yukon government started watching closely when the rain began about 4:30 a.m.

Jim Regimbal, the Northern Area Superintendent with Yukon’s department of Highways and Public Works, deemed the north Klondike highway south of Dawson to Gravel Lake impassable, and barricaded the road between Mayo and Keno City first thing Oct 22.

“We are definitely asking people to stay off the road as crews are working as hard as they can to get sand down and get the road open so that it is safe for everyone traveling,” Regimbal said.

They are advising anyone driving north from Whitehorse to Dawson City to not travel past Stewart Crossing today while crews are working.

Updated road conditions are available at Yukon 511.

Regimbal also talked about yesterday’s final voyage of the Dawson ferry as it took its last trip across the Yukon River on Oct. 21.

“All I can say is that the trip yesterday was slow, boring, uneventful and safe. Just the way I like it,” he said.

The Dawson library was reported to be a busy place before the ferry departed.

People on west Dawson are settling in until conditions warrant the construction of the ice bridge, expected sometime in December.

Contact Lawrie Crawford at lawrie.crawford@yukon-news.com