National Route 39 is a 215.7-kilometer-long (134.0 mi) highway in northern Hokkaido that runs north from Asahikawa to Abashiri.

Its southern terminus lies at an intersection in central Asahikawa where it meets National Routes 12 and 40.

Ordered by Genrōin secretary Kaneko Kentarō, construction on the road began in April 1886.

The prison laborers were mainly political dissidents that Kaneko viewed as morally deficient.

[3] Construction of the Abashiri Road and the others leading from the more-developed southern part of Hokkaido to the prison were of strategic importance to Japan, which viewed Hokkaido as being vulnerable to an invasion from their neighbor, the Russian Empire.