The section from km 995 to km 1009 will get a $20 million upgrade to all-season road, connecting to the existing road into Norman Wells (km 1026).
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/prohibition-creek-access-road-announcement-1.5610103
QuoteThe winter road that connects the communities of the N.W.T.'s Mackenzie Valley will be a little shorter in years to come, thanks to a $20 million joint investment from the territorial and federal government.
A press release from Infrastructure Canada announced the investment Friday. The money will be spent upgrading a portion of the seasonal Mackenzie Valley Winter Road outside Norman Wells, N.W.T., from Canyon Creek to Prohibition Creek, into an all-season road.
The press release calls the segment "a crucial piece of the eventual Mackenzie Valley Highway," a proposed all-season highway from Fort Simpson to Colville Lake, N.W.T., that has been in the works for more than 40 years.
(https://www.myyellowknifenow.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/20200612_142220-750x420.jpg)
Per a linked article, Fort Simpson officials are pushing the territorial government to study a bridge across the Liard River, to replace the existing ferry crossing (summer) and ice bridge (winter), and give the town a year-round road connection to the main NWT road network:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/fort-simpson-bridge-study-1.5474603
This would ultimately become another part of the Mackenzie Valley Highway link to Norman Wells. There's also a ferry/ice bridge crossing between Fort Simpson and the hamlet of Wrigley, that might also get studied for a new bridge some day. That crossing of the Mackenzie River is roughly twice as long as the Liard River crossing, and has lower traffic volumes, though that could change if and when the all-season highway between Wrigley and Norman Wells is ever completed.