Busiest year yet for Deh Cho span
$202M Deh Cho Bridge on track to pay for itself by 2046, says GNWT
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Monday, December 5, 2016
DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE
As the Deh Cho Bridge marked the fourth anniversary of its official opening on Nov. 30, the territorial government says it is on track to pay off the $202-million structure by 2046.
NWT politicians have promised that the Deh Cho Bridge will lower the cost of living in Yellowknife because it allows steady shipping in and out of the community. If this promise holds true, federal employees could see a cut to their Northern living allowance by this time next year. - photo courtesy of Gregory J. Nyul/Northwestel |
That is according to Ioana Spiridonica, spokesperson for the Department of Transportation.
The GNWT took out a 35-year, $165.4 million loan in bonds in 2011 to pay for the bridge which spans the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence.
The bond holders are paid back on an annual basis, Spiridonica told News/North in an e-mail.
All northbound commercial vehicles over 4,500 kilograms are subject to a toll at the bridge. Compliance is monitored through on-road patrols and an electronic toll monitoring system, which includes high-resolution cameras for capturing images of all bridge traffic.
Northbound commercial vehicles have to pay a toll which ranges from $97 to $398 per crossing, depending upon how many axles.
The bridge, on Highway 3, links Yellowknife and the North Slave Region to the rest of the southern part of the territory.
This changed a lot for how Yellowknife and other communities connected to the NWT highway system are supplied.
With the bridge, trucks no longer have to wait to cross for several weeks during freeze-up of the Mackenzie River in the fall and break-up in the spring
Spiridonica stated this year will likely be the 1.1-kilometre-long bridge's busiest with almost 400 crossings on average each day.
The government is on track to have the bridge paid off on time – June 1, 2046, Spiridonica stated.
"Real-life traffic statistics are in line with the forecasts. We are collecting all revenue from traffic. Since fiscal 2012/2013 the collected revenue has met the budgeted amounts," Spiridonica stated.
Premier Bob McLeod, who grew up in Fort Providence, was one of about 500 people who braved -35 C temperatures to walk across the bridge four years ago when it officially opened.
He said the impressive structure has absolutely lived up to its promise.
"This was the largest infrastructure project the territory had even taken on at the time. It's good that it turned out as well as it did. It has allowed us to move forward on other projects," McLeod said.
"I remember growing up the river was treated with a lot of respect, especially during break-up. I remember some of the elders including my parents saying this river is too big, there's no way they could ever get a bridge across. But with technology you can do almost anything these days."
Has lived up to promise
McLeod pointed out the $300-million the Inuvik-to-Tuktoyaktuk Highway has eclipsed the bridge as the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken in the NWT. He said he is pleased to see the bridge is meeting its revenue goals and added he looks forward to the day the territory can call the bridge its own.
The premier's brother, NWT MP Michael McLeod, also walked across the bridge the day it opened. He said its importance to the entire territory can't be underestimated.
"People are no longer concerned about being stranded. For us in the community, we live on the north side of the river. But our traditional area is on both sides of the river," McLeod said. "Now we have the ability to fish, and hunt and picnic and explore both sides of the river."
McLeod said the water was so low on the Mackenzie last year that if the NWT was still dependent on ferry service to cross it, he is not certain of how reliable it would have been due to exposed rocks.
As convenient as the bridge is now, its construction did not come without controversy. The initial builder, New Brunswick-based Atcon Construction, was dropped in 2009 after costs soared from the original $167-million price tag. Atcon eventually filed for bankruptcy in February 2010. The territorial government took over the project management and eventually hired Alberta-based Ruskin Construction as the general contractor, and Associated Engineering, which has a Yellowknife office, as project management.
Current NWT Transportation Minister Wally Schumann was a Hay River businessman when he walked across the bridge in 2012 to celebrate its opening. He said that the bridge has been a boon for his home community of Hay River.
"The most noticeable thing since the bridge opened is that we don't have the shuttle anymore with Buffalo (Airways) Joe (McBryan)," Schumann said. "He was shuttling all the freight. Economically that was one of the impacts that Hay River felt. You got so used to having the air shuttle every year at break-up and freeze-up. It was routine. We don't have that anymore."
