North 2003
Section Index
Transportation in Northern Canada
Bridges forefront on highway budgetFeds cough up cash for bridges / Oil and gas exploration puts pressure on for more infrastructure
Most communities in NWT are connected by 2,200 km of all weather roads and 1,400 km of winter ice roads, as well as a number of privately-owned roads to petroleum exploration sites and mines.
Bridge over Mackenzie River
The territorial government and the Fort Providence Combined Council Alliance have signed a memorandum of intent to build the Deh Cho Bridge over the Mackenzie River by 2005.
Total cost of bridge is not to exceed $55 million.
The project would be financed by tolls on commercial vehicles which would pay up to $6 per tonne.
The GNWT would kick in $1.4 million a year.
Yellowknife Direct Charge Co-op estimates a bridge could save each member about $100 per year in freight costs. RTL Robinson Enterprises say tolls would be offset by lower shipping costs and fewer delays.The road system is comprised of eight paved and gravel highways.
From the Alberta border to the end of Highway 3, the surface is paved expect for the final 65 kilometres. The rest of the roads are gravel.
Five key winter roads are built every year. Tuktoyaktuk is connected to the Northern end of the Dempster Highway. Trout Lake and Nahanni Butte are connected to Highway 2. Gameti (Rae Lakes), Wha Ti and Wekweti are connected to Rae. Cost of the winter-only system is $1.7 million a year.
The territorial government pays to maintain existing public highways. The federal government chips in for new projects and development.
Ottawa transfers $4.5 million over two years through the Strategic Highway Improvement Program to rebuild Highway 3 between the Mackenzie River and Yellowknife.
The federal government also contributed one-time infrastructure cash in the form of $20 million - part of the Corridors for Canada program.
The money is divided between Highway 3, the Ingraham Trail and the Dempster Highway.
Most of the federal money will go to a series of bridges on the Mackenzie Valley Highway in response to increased oil and gas exploration.
The permanent bridges are being built over rivers on the winter-only section of the 693 km road from the Alberta border to Wrigley.
The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs funded seven bridges at a cost of $4 million.
The money came from aboriginal economic development funding.
Seven rivers on the Mackenzie Highway have been spanned.
This winter, the territory plans to put in another four bridges along the route, leaving 22 streams to be crossed.
Estimated cost of the project is $17 million over the next four years.
Private roads
The longest and most expensive ice road runs 567 kilometers from Tibbitt Lake, 70 kilometers east of Yellowknife, to Echo Bay's Lupin Mine, the Ekati diamond mine and the Diavik diamond mine.
The ice road is managed by the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road Joint Venture, a partnership between BHP Billiton, Diavik Diamond Mines and Echo Bay Mines (a subsidiary of Kinross Gold Corporation).
Nuna Logistics opens and maintains the road, which is usually open February to March. SecureCheck provides security for the road.
The road's annual price tag is about $10 million.
A one-way trip to Lupin mine takes about 20 hours. Average ice thickness is usually about 125 centimeters.
-Updated August 2003
