by Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Oct 27/97) - With federal, provincial and territorial budget cuts, it's literally been a rough road across Canada for several years.

But that could change.

At the premier's conference last August, there was discussion on working together and one area where this was supported was inter-jurisdictional roads, NWT premier Don Morin said.

The North has three such roads -- the Dempster, the Liard and the Mackenzie, shared with Yukon, B.C. and Alberta respectively.

At the conference, premiers acknowledged areas of Canada are "heavily dependent on the highway system for access to the rest of Canada and for access to communities, resources, economic development, tourism and trade.

"They agreed that special considerations should be given to needs of remote Northern regions in developing funding arrangements for a highway system to provide access for tourism and economic development," Morin said.

Premiers are looking to Ottawa to help fund highway costs much as municipal projects are funded, the NWT's deputy transportation minister, Joe Handley, said.

The federal government has said when the deficit is eliminated, half the surplus will go to programs, Handley added.

"All premiers agree there has to be cost-sharing (on multi-jurisdictional roads)," Handley said.

They also agree more money has to be put into roads, he said.

"The roads are reasonably good on our side," Handley said.

The worst of the three is the Liard.

"The Liard is rough all the way in winter," said John Weigel, fuel operations supervisor with Hay River-based Stan Dean and Sons Ltd.

The NWT uses calcium on its side, which helps stabilize the material. But logging trucks blow material away on the B.C. side, he said.

The highway from Alberta to the NWT is relatively good, he said. "It's hard to beat an Alberta highway."

It comes as no surprise. The NWT is a net importer of goods, the lion's share of which come from Alberta. This is perhaps the most significant reason for keeping this road in good shape.

Weigel said the Dempster was about the same on both sides and the Liard was better on the NWT side.

But the worst stretch of highway in the North has to be the road between Rae and Yellowknife, he added.

"It's narrow, curvy and downright dangerous (but) you drive to the conditions."

The GNWT's No. 1 road priority is rebuilding Highway 3 between Yellowknife and Rae, Handley said.

"I believe the 90 kilometres (from Yellowknife to Rae) has 156 curves. It's narrow. Shoulders need to be strengthened and it's subject to frost," Handley said.

Second on the list is improving winter road conditions up the Mackenzie Valley.

Third is a road to the mineral-rich region known as the Slave geological province, which includes BHP Diamonds' mine.

In the North, private money could play a role in building a road to the Slave geological province. Such a road would stretch about 300 kilometres from Yellowknife or shoot off Highway 3.

The long-term plan would be to extend this road to the Arctic coast, Handley said.

Deputy transport ministers across Canada have a committee working on a review of the potential of private sector funding, Handley said.

But new roads in the North are expensive.

It costs up to $1 million a kilometre to build a road in the North.

And it takes time. A small stretch of road connecting the Mackenzie Highway to Jean Marie River was a 30-year process, territorial Transportation Minister Jim Antoine said.