In 1925, "Provincial Highway 5, the Evergreen Route", followed the surveyed rail line route of the Canadian Northern Railway, later the Canadian National Railway. Provincial Highway 5 had a western terminus at Lloydminster located on the Alberta - Saskatchewan border. When the province was surveyed, the road evolved from a dirt road to a gravel road. This was finally improved to an all-weather road known as Provincial Highway 5 from the Alberta–Saskatchewan border bypassing Saskatoon to the north, and continuing on to the Manitoba–Saskatchewan border. Just as the rail line went through Aberdeen, Warman, and Langham, so too did Provincial Highway 5. In 1925, access from Saskatoon to Provincial Highway 5 was via Provincial Highway 12 which was a route due north of the city. The other connection was Provincial Highway 27 which traveled east and north from Saskatoon connecting to Provincial Highway 5 at the junction located at the town of Aberdeen. In the late 1950s and 1960s, the highway was straightened and widened. During this process, the current Saskatchewan Highway 5 connected Humboldt and Saskatoon in a more direct west and east highway. The old place names of Warman, Aberdeen, Vonda, Prudhomme, Dana, Bruno, and Carmel located on Provincial Highway 5 were no longer place names along Saskatchewan Highway 5. Now the Highway 2 concurrency was the only north-south stretch between Humboldt and Saskatoon and Meacham the only place name. On August 15, 1970 the Yellowhead was opened for the northern Trans-Canada route and the northwestern half of Provincial Highway 5 between Saskatoon and Lloydminster was designated as Saskatchewan Highway 16, the Yellowhead route.