Travellers say rough conditions on Yukon's Dempster Highway creating a potentially dangerous situation

Driving the Dempster Highway from the Yukon to the Northwest Territories is on many people's bucket lists.

Starting near Dawson City, and ending in Inuvik, the Dempster Highway, is 740 kilometres of unpaved road.

According to some people who recently travelled the highway, the Yukon section needs some serious maintenance.

Faith Labelle moved to Inuvik from Alberta not very long ago.

She described the road on the Yukon's side as "brutal."

"The worst part was the shale. Just with standard tires it kind of threatens to slash your tires every time you drive over it," Labelle said.

"With how unstable it is and the washboards if you were to lose a tire on one of those curves and you lose control of your vehicle and you go over the edge of the road where there should be barriers, like you're dead."

Labelle also said the speed at which other vehicles would pass by her was unnerving.

"So many people just fly down the road," she said. "It's not worth your life. It's not worth your vehicle. If you drive slow, you have much better chances of being OK."

Labelle said once she crossed over the Yukon/N.W.T. border, the road was in much better condition.

She said the Yukon government needs to invest more attention, time, and money into maintaining the road before more people get hurt, or much worse.

"That road is a lifeline for me and I'm scared to drive it."

Toronto resident Chris Work drove the highway earlier this month.

"You really have to be prepared for everything," he said. "The most unsafe driving that I observed was between the turnoff at the Klondike Highway and Eagle Plains. The road condition itself was OK. That stretch between Eagle Plains and the N.W.T. border was pretty bad."

Work said he too noticed the road had a lot of sections with loose gravel, and washboard ruts, so he decided to drive slower than the posted speed limit. It was the passing motorists that had him concerned. Especially when they'd pass his rental car on loose gravel.

"I actually got my windshield broken," he said. "Thankfully I did purchase the windshield insurance. The windshield was covered but actually on the way back I had the same thing happen. Someone passing too close and then broke my driver's side window."

Work said the damage will run him close to $500.

He said it was a trip of a lifetime and he is grateful for the experience, but won't do it again.

'A lot of dust'

It took Whitehorse residents Audrey Plourde, and Anne-Marie Lemaire six days to bike from Dawson City, to Eagle Plains.

Both said the stretch of highway to the Tombstone Territorial Park was "smooth." It was around 40 kilometers after the park where things started to get a bit dusty.

"It's a little bit more trickier," Plourde said. "Especially when you're going up hill. We noticed more when the trucks were passing by us that there was a lot dust behind them. Sometimes we have to stop on the side of the road just because we cannot see anything."

Plourde said at one point along the way, one truck tried passing another, and because the dust was so thick in the air the driver was unable to see the two women on the road. Luckily the truck was able to pass without incident.

Lemaire said the potholes were manageable as they would bike around them but the washboard ruts wreaked havoc on their wrists and necks as they'd go over them.

Lemaire said the road's condition seemed to get worse each day they'd travel toward the N.W.T. border.

Both women said they sent their location to their family members by inReach. They said that because there isn't much available in terms of emergency response along the highway they're taking extra precautions to make sure they arrive to their destination, and back home, alive.

"We met a tow truck driver that was retrieving a moto from the ditch," Plourde said.

"He said he had to tow seven motorbikes this year," Lemaire said.

The Yukon government's department of Highways and Public Works is responsible for maintaining the Dempster Highway. CBC News requested an interview, but the acting director of transportation wasn't immediately available for comment.