Yellowknife (Jan 26/05) - Parts of Yellowknife shook once again Sunday afternoon as road crews blasted rock on Highway 3.

Trevor Herd, general manager of NWT Rock Services, said the force of the explosion threw about 35,000 cubic metres of material into the air at approximately 3:15 p.m.

This spectacular blast of rock along Highway 3 on Sunday is part of the road reconstruction and realignment process which will finally link Yellowknife - once the bridge is built - to the world via pavement. - Dorothy Westerman/NNSL photo

"We used about 40,000kg of explosives in that shot," Herd said.

"It was an average size shot (blast). We've had some bigger ones and we've had some smaller ones," he said of the ongoing work.

Ongoing construction project

The blast, part of an ongoing construction and realignment project, closed the highway for approximately one hour as crews removed the resulting granite rock and debris.

To set the explosives, Herd said about 900 holes had to be drilled and detonators were placed in the ground.

The holes are then filled with ammonium nitrate.

"Each one of the detonators is connected to the other, like by a long string.

"They are all connected to the lead hole," he explained.

The person blasting will then run the lead-in line out about 600 metres away from the area. It is then detonated by using a blasting machine.

Typically, Herd said it is advisable to be at least 600 metres away from a blast of that strength.

Herd said at least 20 to 30 blasts have been necessary since the onset of the project.

The blast itself was powerful enough to break much of the rock up into pieces that can be used as fill to construct parts of the road.

$132 million

Kevin McLeod, director of highways for the NWT Department of Transportation, said the roads are undergoing a significant upgrading process in partnership with Transport Canada at a cost of $132 million.

On Highway 3, the new construction will make it "as easy as possible to get from other parts of the country to Yellowknife," he said.

Final completion of the highway construction, which is slated for Oct. 1, will include a chipseal highway that is smooth and dust-free for drivers all the way from the Alberta border to Yellowknife.