It was first built in the early 1960s to facilitate the movement of asbestos from the town of Cassiar.

[2] The Salmon River Road continues from the border as an unsigned highway in Alaska, and heads north-westerly through Hyder and the Tongass National Forest.

It crosses the border again at the abandoned town site of Premier, British Columbia, where it continues on as Granduc Road to the Salmon Glacier summit viewpoint ending at the Granduc Mine.

The road is extremely vulnerable to avalanches through Bear Pass.

As such, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure runs an anti-avalanche program through the pass.