Mile 0 - Dawson Creek, British Columbia - Roadside Attractions on Waymarking.com

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Mile 0 - Dawson Creek, British Columbia

in Roadside Attractions

Posted by:  T0SHEA

10U E 673893 N 6182673

Mile O is right smack dab in the middle of 10th Street and 120nd Avenue. You can visit Mile 0 at any time as it stands waiting for the thousands of visitors who come to Dawson Creek.

Dawson Creek, British Columbia is where the Alaska Highway officially begins. It stretches for 2,500 km (1,570 miles) from Dawson Creek to Delta Junction, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon.

We went out of our way just to visit "Mile 0". We were about a week in of our 8 week tour of Alberta and Saskatchewan. I just could not wait to get there, I had never been to Dawson Creek and I just knew visiting "Mile 0" was going to be one of the highlights of our trip. I was not disappointed and will return. I suppose you could say that the marker is not huge, or remarkable in other ways, however: it is "Mile 0" of the famous Alaska Highway.

Mile 0

Fear of a Japanese invasion during World War II is the reason this highway was built when it was. Built from 1942 to 1943, its original length was 1523 miles, but it is now 1,387 miles due to straightening and realigning over the years. The highway was officially opened on November 20, 1942 but wasn't completed until 1943. Completed in eight or nine months, depending on the source, it was a feat unequalled in modern road-building, likely because 27,000 US Army engineers and civilians worked on the project.

Opened to the public in 1948 as a gravel road, the highway is now paved over its entire length. In peace time the highway has proved to be instrumental in opening the north to settlement and exploration.