Derek Neary
Northern News Services

NNSL (Mar 08/99) - Increased tourism, related infrastructure and highway construction jobs are among the benefits that Fort Simpson residents foresee if the Mackenzie Highway is extended from Wrigley to Tsiigehtchic.

Close to 30 people turned out for a Department of Transportation public consultation in Fort Simpson on Wednesday afternoon, the first of several stops in the western NWT regarding this potential route.

Andrew Gaule, president of the Fort Simpson Chamber of Commerce, said the highway extension would unquestionably have a major beneficial impact on the economy of Fort Simpson. He suggested that it would stimulate tourism, trade and commercial traffic to Inuvik.

"Fort Simpson's going to become a fairly major regional centre," Gaule predicted, adding that the road would be a means of

providing more regional balance since Yellowknife will have a disproportionate role in the western NWT after division.

Many questions arose on the financial details of the potential project. Facilitator Hal Mills, of GeoNorth, emphasized that the highway extension is currently a concept, not yet in the project proposal stage. He noted that a financial feasibility study is to be conducted, as is an engineering study. Social and cultural implications will also be considered. All the results will be submitted to Cabinet, where the final decisions will be made sometime in April or June.

Depending on funding sources, the government may be forced to select from four highway projects, Mills said. The others being considered are a road through the Slave Geological Transportation Corridor (where mineral development is taking place), an all-weather route from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk or paving the road from Yellowknife to Rae.

There is also a possibility that the projects could be tendered or a public/private partnership could be formed, making more money, and more roads, available. This elicited a question from the audience about the likelihood of a toll road.

"It is a possibility," replied Colleen English, environmental analyst with the Department of Transportation. She added that only in the case of a private road would a user-pay system be permitted. Tolls could be aimed at commercial traffic or apply to the general public as well.

The distance from Wrigley to Tsiigehtchic along the proposed route is 832 kilometres. That number jumps to 937 if an attachment to Deline is included.

According to English, the actual cost per kilometre of road depends on whether it is designed for 60 km/h or 80 km/h. Since the road with the greater speed limit involves more work and materials, she estimated the cost to be $500,000/per kilometre, as opposed to $300,000 for the slower speed option.

Either way, at least one member of the audience made it clear that the road should be constructed to a better standard than the ones that already exist in the Deh Cho region.

"We want a good road, not a road that's going to be pounded out by truck traffic," he said. "We don't want another Liard Trail, and there is a reason they call it a trail."

Most in attendance seemed to agree that a slower approach to building the road would be most beneficial -- allowing local construction crews to remain involved longer and giving hotels, motels and restaurants a chance to open along the route. There was mention on a couple of occasions that the highway extension would entice those travelling the Alaska Highway and the Dempster Highway to travel "the loop," coming down through the western NWT.

Mills said the government has considered a slower approach to building the road. Called the "community construction approach," it would see the GNWT annually invest money into the communities to stimulate road construction. Other options include gradually upgrading the existing winter road or going to public tender, which would be most expedient.