Several trucking companies that service the Beaufort Delta are accusing the Yukon government of failing to properly maintain its side of the Dempster Highway.
Ferries are closed for freeze-up now, but in the weeks leading up to the closure, truckers struggled to get their cargo to Inuvik in one piece, forced to navigate roads they call poorly maintained, causing lengthier travel times.
“It’s affecting everything I have on the highway, it’s a lot of repairs,” said Northwind Industries owner Kurt Wainman, who said he’s spending thousands on repairs to his trucks that have endured the rough conditions. “Every trip we do we have expensive repairs. It’s crazy. I’m talking thousands of dollars, every trip we’re fixing something. We’re losing time, we’re getting damage on our own trucks. This has been the worst year. Yukon’s not grading or doing any maintenance. They haven’t done anything for years.
“Our semis are taking a (expletive)-kicking. It’s come down to where freight is going to go up and people can’t afford it, or otherwise we gotta quit trucking because it’s so bad. Our costs are going up through the roof.”
Wainman said his truckers noticed a clear difference in the road maintenance quality on each side of the border.
He’s not the only one.
Hawks Supply and North of 60 Medical Solutions Ltd. owner Paul MacDonald said he’s had several orders come in either damaged or late, from debris or potholes on the Yukon side.
“We’ve been trying to stock up since September,” he said. “But then there was the accident with the bridge, there was a rollover, there was a jackknifed trailer, there was a vehicle on fire that burned a bridge down south of Whitehorse.
“So all of these issues have compounded into delay after delay trying to get our freight. Manitoulin does a great job of getting us the freight as quickly as they can, but they are also bound by the condition of the road.
“When you see the trucks coming in damaged by potholes — I’ve never seen so many damaged trailers, and these are professional drivers. These eight to 12-inch potholes up to three feet wide that the Yukon government doesn’t seem to worry about, is destroying not only the vehicles but the freight inside the vehicles. So it makes it difficult to bring up sensitive products by ground that are medical.”
MacDonald estimated delays added up to around 25 per cent in losses. Add to that the cost of having to bring time-sensitive goods up by plane.
MacDonald says he’s made many trips on the Dempster Highway. He describes the road in the lead-up to freeze-up as “the worst he has ever seen” in 17 years of living in the area.
“A lot of revenue from Inuvik goes into the Yukon,” he added. “We’re not seeing any of that revenue put, by way of taxes, into fixing the road.
“You can certainly tell once you hit that border how good the road is on the Northwest Territories side. But cross over that border, there’s sections that are absolutely horrendous. Excluding wash-outs or horrible storms, the fact they’re down to the base layer of rock on the Dempster Highway is concerning.”
“Notable” issues this year
Rob Eskens is Manitoulin’s vice president of sales for Western Canada. He says Manitoulin had specially enforced trailers for bringing transport up the Dempster, and the standard response to bad roads is to slow down. But he warned unexpected problems on the Dempster Highway could surface anywhere along the 370 kilometres without any services from the Klondike Highway turnoff to Eagle Plains. He describes this past season as “notable” for issues compared to the last 20 years.
“There’s a bit more precipitation and for a three or four week period it gets a little tricky, and that happens every year,” he said, noting the company did see an increase in wear and tear. “This year it did seem a little worse than the many years prior. There’s been a number of delays in our transit time, the condition of the road and some of the precipitation events, mainly snow and water.
“It has cost us at times another day from a transit time perspective.”
Eskens said the company ships between 15 and 20 loads to Inuvik on a weekly basis when the road is open.
He says Manitoulin was fully staffed and even brought in extra drivers to cover the freight-line. But he says drivers can’t move any faster if it’s unsafe to do so.
Now that the ferries have closed, Eskens says the bigger concern is what the road will look like in spring. Transport over frozen tundra and river crossings in deep winter is typically far less troublesome for drivers.
He said the company is in constant contact with their drivers to stay on top of changing conditions.
“Water and precipitation washes away the important surface of the road, which exposes ruts and potholes,” he said. “We do feel that we could do better in engaging those officials at the Yukon government and other parties who would be equally concerned and talk about the condition of the road, especially going into the spring.
“(The road conditions) has cost us probably a day in transit time. Most of the goods we bring into Inuvik are freshly frozen groceries and our customers are concerned that they get the freshest product on the shelf as possible — products have an expected shelf life. When we’re a day late, we have taken a day out of that freshness and customers are concerned.
“When they’re concerned, we’re concerned about transit time. If we have another season like we’re having now, we probably will have to do a better job of talking to those officials responsible for road maintenance. This road has got to improve to the point where we can have a reasonably quick transit time.”
Yukon Highways and Public Works communications manager Madison Guthrie said the Yukon routinely grades the Dempster each fall to prepare it for winter. But bad weather has hampered maintenance efforts this year.
She noted the excess rain prior to freeze up re-opened pot holes in the road after grading was complete.
“During the winter, we will continue to provide our regular service such as plowing and clearing the road,” she said. “In the spring, we will grade the road and fix any issues that arise to get it ready for summer travel.
“We urge all drivers to use caution when travelling along the Dempster, especially at this time of year and to check 511 Yukon for the latest updates.”