The new highway to the Arctic Ocean
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 24. 06. 2018
- Until recently, Canada didn't have a road link to the Arctic Ocean. But last year, the all-weather Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway opened, which meant that finally the country was connected "from sea to sea to sea". I set out to drive it, but it didn't quite go how I planned.
Edited by Michelle Martin (@mrsmmartin)
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I wanted this video to be so much more, but my plans and script had to change quickly - and eventually my flight to Tuktoyaktuk was delayed due to weather, so I only had about two hours there. I hope I've managed to at least capture a postcard of the town!
This is a comment :)
Change my mind
Tom Scott such a C O O L place wow. But it is still scary to drive there through the highway even after repaired wouldn't it?
I guess that perfectly demonstrates how hard it is to get to this place
Welcome to the NWT!
Abedin Durakovic well if you're uploading well in advance and scheduling publication to make sure things stay on schedule... really not that unusual
"We never felt isolated because we're FROM HERE" says the awesome lady
B A S E D
A
S
E
D
We are not isolated from you, you are isolated from us.
Says the awesome 21 year old young lady.
And now we are all more or less isolated
I grew in a town of 20 000, not that small, I guess, but 30 km away there's a city of 100 000. We would go there for a proper shopping, clothes, theatre, cinema, etc.
But... At the end of the day we are all a part of some community...
Children living with a family in the middle of the woods care about *their family* - because *their family* is *their community*
Fun Fact: Tuktoyaktuk translates as "it looks like a caribou"
It looks like a caribou
What was that other gigantic word on the sign?
@Kutsen39 same thing but in inuinnaqtun
I love that
Currently watching this video in Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world!
this city is not the northernmost one btw
Doesn't Peru have a permanent antarctic settlement which would technically qualify as the "southernmost "city" "?
Currently watching from Minnesota
We got a lot of lakes....10,000 of them
Currently watching from Lahore, Pakistan. Nothing special, geographically speaking, just wanted to let you guys know :-)
Might not be big enough to be a city
Just checked this out on google maps and whew boy is it up there. I also looked to see how long it would take to drive there from Vancouver... 53 hours. For reference it only takes 42 hours to drive from New York to Los Angeles.
Abbreviated Reviews plus going north, you have no way to stay whatsoever on the road
looking at google maps, you can see why this town would be easily threatened by rising sea levels.
Actually it only takes 28 hours and 50 minutes to get from NY to LA haha
I have driven from Victoria, BC to Whitehorse, YK (my new home) up through the Dempster to Tuktoyaktuk on this new stretch. It was an incredible journey, topped off by walking on the frozen Arctic Ocean.
@shrimp How the hell do you figure? I'm made the trip from Chicago area to LA 3 times and thats already 28 hours with zero traffic.
Tom, this is one of the videos that would benefit greatly if you added a map into your explanation. Cheers.
I wish there were more videos like this. Little hidden nuggets of Canadian history and culture.
UltraPrimal check out a small channel called Canadiana they started recently and have videos very much like this all about interesting little tidbits of Canadian history.
As a Canadian, itâs amazing to think how massive our country really is!
As someone from Ontario, I often forget how massive Ontario really is.
I feel so lucky to have traveled to Tuktoyuktuk on the new road. What a journey, did it on my motorcycle starting in San Diego, California. Unfortunately the weather started to come in and I wasn't able to spend much time in Tuk but I hope to make it up there again. I imagine the road will bring changes to the village......
I spent some time in Alaska and I want to comment on the van behind Eileen (interviewee). That dirt is *so real*! During Breakup, which is the season when the snow melts and long days come to visit, that fine-grained dust gets everywhere, since it was only hiding under all of the frozen everything. Thatâs part of the reason the culture up there emphasizes taking shoes off when entering a home.
Something else you might not know.
So that's why "Ice Road Truckers" got cancelled. It's all Tom Scott's fault!!
Funny how a channel with Henry in the tunnel makes a joke about being stuck.
Yeah, but that was his own fault. He could have driven out any time he liked, until they gave up and bricked him in.
They didnt even come close to going that far north on IRT.
@@John-yy1oy yes they did, this town specifically i can remember it
@@TotoDG Irony
This dude is so lucky. Always traveling to cool places.
ahhhhh I see what you did there
Nice unintentional pun
It is because someone funded him to do that
Travelling is part of his job after all.
Nillie joke
Thank you for this video, Tom. I spent a year living in Nome (Alaska), which was not connected to the road system - only access was by air or sea (or Snowgo/dogsled, if you happened to be mushing the Iditarod Sleddog Race). Those price points looked terribly familiar, too - I do not miss $6.15/gallon gasoline! But I loved my time living there, with a local pizza place that built in the price of delivering your pizza via air, and the fantastic stories of how people came to live in such a remote place (since Nome wasn't originally a native town, even the Alaska natives who live there now came from elsewhere, though there are several generations in place).
3 years later and gas is >$6/gallon in the lower 48
Jeez, I thought orange juice was expensive here in Pennsylvania... That's really cool though! I love seeing thriving little towns like that
DoctorX17 hah yeah when food comes by plane its got a high price tag!
I wonder how they make money...
Some tourism, some gov't jobs in coast-guarding and radar and scientific projects. Depending on the specific area there is also mining up there - particularly diamonds and oil/gas for the NWT, plus transport - shipping through the NW passage and through various rivers & lakes. Though many live off subsistence hunting/fishing & gathering supplemented with gov't benefits.
Ahh... I figured there was a bit more than simply hunting and fishing -- those probably contribute a lot to their food supply, so they don't have to worry so much about buying fish and meat
HAH, GET IT? COOL?!
This is so cool, my grandparents work with the Northern grocery stores so they used to be up north a lot. Theyâre retired now but they sent us pictures from Inuvik and Tuktoyuktuk.
was up there 2 years ago. done the plunge in the artic ocean. cool to see you at a place I was in. keep coming to Canada!
GREAT video, as always!
1:26 damn, thatâs such an Eskimo joke. I feel like my own Aana (inupiaq for grandma) said something like that before. Havenât heard one of those jokes in a while, made me smile.
I donât get it?
@@mazdaman2315 itâs an experience thing.
Its my mother's 21st every year haha n we aussie
@@maxl3189 I was referring more to the tone of the joke.
What makes a place weird doesn't feel weird to locals born and raised, since to what us is weird for them is normal.
Been there! :-) I had two days as a tourist in Inuvik in the summer of 2000, was there on Canada Day (July 1) and also took a flightseeing trip to Tuktoyaktuk. Really interesting places. Had musk ox at a local restaurant. I did not go by road though, flew in from Dawson city and out to Yellowknife.
How come we say "wall-to-wall carpeting" when rooms have four walls? Shouldn't it be "wall-to-wall-to-wall-to-wall carpeting"? ;-)
MrStephenRGilman
I think you just answered your question.
They don't want to get you thinking about your wa-wa-wa-wallet. Our our saviour, Waluigi
Unless your carpeting a room without 4 sides. You'd say "pi to r squared carpeting" for circular rooms.
Wall to wall squared.
That rug really tied the room together.
Iâve been loving the Canada videos! Glad to see my country getting some recognition!
Being Canadian I really enjoy these videos in Canada, would love to see you do more of these
When the taxi is twice as tall as the taxi driver, you're in a climate with just two seasons: winter and road construction.
Please never stop making these amazing videos!
Roughly as far north as northern Scandinavia, just a bit further north than the northernmost railroad line from Sweden to Norway; But there are still some towns and cities throughout the area, all connected by roads, public transport via train, bus, ship and plane
Can I just say, I am so very grateful for this series.
I love getting home on a monday and watching the new, always intresting, episode.
Thank you Tom for delivering this great experience.
I was freaking out about the speed limit until I realized that it's 70km/h. You would have to be insane to go 70mph there.
thin *km* etric
I find it hilarious to put a speed limit there anyways. As if there was anybody checking whether you're driving too fast there, hahaha
@@gayusschwulius8490 it is probably for your own safety in case of bad road patches or wildlife.
There aren't many places in the world that use miles.
Thank you for showing us but of my country. I never explored it properly and you make me want to go west and see all of it for myself.
You're Amazing Tom! Thanks for your hard work so that we can be educated and entertained, I appreciate it!
Adding to bucket list of roadtrip destinations
I learned a good amount about Tuktoyaktuk a decade or more ago, such a musical place name. Always fin to learn more, because if you're not learning, you're not living.
Thanks for a great video Tom - brought back lots of memories. I spent a decade living in Inuvik. Wonderful time was had.
I love that near musical vocal lilt Eileen has, it's very comforting
Sounds quite Irish.
@@brandonmartin-moore5302 Or Norwegian.
places like that always amaze me, they are in the middle of vast land of unending snow all eye can see, the night must be dark, cold and scary, they must have been struggle to keep up with their daily routine especially children that wanted to go to a school, or even finding their soulmate, i cant imagine the struggle of people living there, prop for them, papa bless :)
Light Grey during the summer there is no night. During the winter there is no day
Don't you mean ice-olated?
That was n-ice
Hehe, Tuktoyaktuk might be far north, but I am from TromsĂž, Norway, even further north... A thriving 70.000 inhabitants city 9th largest in Norway with the northernmost university in the world! :)
Fredrik HĂžisĂŠther Rasch yes, but you're from Norway and you guys have far fewer places to choose to live... Most Canadians look at the weather there and say "screw that. I'm heading south and staying somewhere that only hurts to breathe a month or two out of the year rather than six."... đ
Well, the climate is much nicer in TromsÞ, we got about 28°C in summer 2014 for example and the coldest recorded temperature in TromsÞ in -20°C which is cold, but really not that cold considering e.g. Oslo can easily reach lower temperatures in a normal winter
Though I bet Tuk is far more isolated and climatically harsher.
Europe is surprisingly far to the north in general, compared to North American regions with similar climate, thanks to the Gulf Stream.
I'm from county Durham Uk, and people think I'm northern.
I always get excited when I see that youâve uploaded a new video they make me happy. đ Keep up the great work! đđ»
I love stories about little isolated places like this--odd little quirks of human geography. Lovely that the place seems to be doing well despite the hardships they likely face!
As ever another insightful video. Thanks, Tom
I've driven all the way from Calgary to Tuktoyaktuk, and my God is this a big country!
Damn, those are some expensive groceries. They should plant some orange trees, and some candy bushes.
Candy bushes won't grow that far North.
@@falleithani5411 Not with that kind of attitude it won't
Another fine video from Canada Tom.
Just had a look on Google Maps on what would be the longest road trip in North America: From a point in Yaviza, Panama, called "The End of Safety" - whatever that means - to the "Northernmost Drivable Point in North America" in Oliktok, Alaska: an oil production pad - classic American.
2 000km, 141h. Sounds fun. Maybe a nice challenge for Tom and his friends. Would probably be enough material for one or two "Amazing Places" videos...
Now, if the Darién Gap wasn't there, you could figure out the longest road trip in the western hemisphere--from somewhere at the southern tip of South America (Ushuaia?) to that oil production pad.
I'll be honest, I didn't expect this video to be so cool, but this is one channel that I can rely on to always have extremely interesting videos. :)
I read the title like I was singing "Danger Zone". HIIGHHWAYY to the.. Arctic Ocean
ah good one.
Every video of yours is, at least, enjoyable, if not informative and educational. Thank you.
I love all your canada videos
Awesome Video!!!!
My dad went to Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk once back in the 70s. It was colder then.
Love when Tom goes to Canada
Sorry, we could not calculate driving directions from "Barrow, Alaskam USA" to "Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada"
You can from Deadhorse, AK though. It's a very long way round...
Couldn't calculate driving directions from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada either.
@@kaiasaurus5713 3897 km (44 hours) according to Google Maps.
There's no road access to Barrow. That kinda messes up the driving directions.
Wow. I always love videos about these remote places. I wish I could afford to spend a couple months every year in a place like this. Life seems so lax and slow paced there, without the world's burdens and anxieties. I live in Finland, so an experience like this isn't actually that far away, but their culture is very different from ours in northern Europe.
prolétaire the climate is also exceedingly different
I drove the new highway this may! It was insane, the whole road was pure ice!
Wow, $16 for orange juice??? Nuts
Well I mean, they can't exactly grow their own oranges, and they're about half a hemisphere away from Florida....so...
Nuts are actually $30
The worst part is that you will probably have to buy it regularly. Where else are you going to get your vitamins? Probably not a lot of tomatoes and grapes growing up there.
Yea there's unfortunately a food crisis going on up there. Well... Has been for a while. Shit's too expensive to afford. Which is why they still hunt for food a lot of the time. Going back to the traditional methods of getting food because the new ones aren't attainable, ya know?
Well look at where they are. We live in cities and get our goods from truck or train. They have to fly them in. Or ice roads in winter.
That price is probably 75% transportation.
YES!!!!!!! Inuvik is a great town.
I met some kids from Tuktoyaktuk once at Encounters With Canada, they were very friendly
Building a road in this environment is very difficult. For example many sections of the Alaska Highway had to be repaved between 15 to 21 times because summer and winter melt kept it sinking into the tundra.
You know, one lesser thing I love about you always having subtitles is that is doesn't lead to having subtitles on only *some* people and thus implicitly judging which accents are more or less understandable. I really appreciate that! (I also just in general really appreciate the subtitles, subtitles are great.)
This would be better if you showed it on a map.
Andy McKee just search it up
This is such a great channel
Noice video tom!
Omg your still going, havenât seen you since that show on sky đ
The only thing more awesome than Canada is having Tom's job.
Tomâs out here making better cancon than anyone in Canada
If you're some place you can't depend on cell service, there are satellite phones, or cheaper tools that just send an SOS with your location to the satellite. Essential tools if you're that far out of cell service, no matter how good the road.
You get to do some cool stuff. I like it.
Enjoy watching this video thank you for sharing this video
This channel is great
I love the Inuit lady. The accent up there is amazing as well.
1:24 I love Eileen, that put a smile on my face.
I would totally live in Tuktoyaktuk!
Tom Scott are you becoming the new Rick Mercer? These videos are great keep them coming.
I suspect that the longer that road is there, the fewer mud bog effects will occur since it also serves as a year round access to the road itself. :) I expect it will take many cubic miles of gravel, some of which will probably have high tech cement type thing mixed in, to fully stabilize the road bed. And, of course, figuring out where it needs drainage help since that's not going to be obvious while it's frozen, either.
William Astle cement is not a good idea to use for a road here, water will seep in the small cracks, freeze and expand them. In a few years it would be destroyed from the environment.
I didn't actually mean building a concrete road though I can see how you might get that impression from what I wrote. We don't generally use concrete roads in my part of the world (much further south) for the same reason. Actually, the "high tech cement" thing I'm referring to might not even be portland cement. The idea is that on swampy ground, you can mix some sort of high tech cement into the lower levels of the road bed as a means to stabilize it or make it pack better. Whether they do that or not (and I'm sure they have engineers who have considered it even if they don't do it), they'll eventually end up with enough material in there packed densely enough to survive fairly well.
They should do an amazing places on the 100 Mile road in Alaska (might be 70 Mile road) it is in a similar situation but they have a road that busses run on, for transport and also for hiking. You can get off the bus wherever you want and go hiking and camping in the wilderness.
Great video :)
TOM SCOTT!
"21 year ago...", humor is universal đ
Hope you visit the Comox Valley. Tons of history here, but advances in infrastructure have been very alarming to the locals, with our forests being chopped down.
amazing places and rare earth are my favourites of all time
For the Record, Inukvik is a 50h drive North of Vancouver. So it's remote. Tuktoyaktuk is a little bit further north
is about 12 days cycling to get south of the arctic circle too
I have been there before the road was constructed, now I have to go back on to drive all the way to Tuk, that's what they call it in short.
My nan and pop work for Northern in their grocery stores up north and they were in Tuktoyaktuk about a year ago
Oooh, a new video.
I love that Ice road truckers taught me about the geography of Canada.
The shock one of these people would have stepping off a plane in Florida.
A special place.
It's funny to see Northern store price tags on a British CZcams channel. I live in a slightly remote Manitoba town and see the same corporate branding all the time. For how far north Tuktoyaktuk is, I actually would have expected higher prices. I lived in a town in Northern Ontario that had similar prices, and it was only a 1 hour flight to Winnipeg.
I love little town like this, for how long do you visit places like this to make it worth while?
Welcome to Canada
Parts of Dempster highway actually looks magnificent on Google Map
They should have talked to somebody in Alaska. The Alaskans have been building roads across permafrost for decades and they''ve gotten good at it. At least, so I hear.
Edit: The local permafrost is melting? Oh, well. Then I guess one is kind of scr**ed.
What the Alaskans did (if I'm remembering this correctly) was put their roads on high beds of fill, that would serve to insulate the permafrost underneath from the heat on the pavement. Get ten feet underground, and the temperature doesn't vary much from the yearly mean. But if the yearly mean is now above freezing, then the ground is going to slowly turn to pudding.
No point in raising an expensive highway on top of that.
Great video but i was waiting a bit for a map. Where is the town exactly? Where is the new highway going? Where did the old one stoo? Could've been visualized with a simple map.
I recognized a lot of locations in this video from watching Ice Road Truckers.
That would be fun to visit, but I would be clinically depressed if I lived there.
You can already drive to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
The google street view car even did it, so you can see the sights from the comfort of your computer chair.
How were the bugs up there? I was in tuktoyuktuk a few years ago at the end of August and they weren't bad but I know they're terrible in July.
"They have fast internet."
So this remote location, in the extreme north of Canada, has better internet access than I do in the southern part of the U.S.
OMEGA Lul
Having had an American working at a McDonald's act as if using Tap with my debit card was magic... This seems about right to me
To be fair, it *was* in Alabama
We drove this last summer :D
I googled the Highway, expecting some multi hour behemoth... but what i found was just 138Km road.
Thats still gonna take a good 1-2 hours, but its not as crazy as i thought.
its over 1000km to the nearest paved road