Winter roads lose their cool
Time is running out for ice crossings

Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

NNSL (Apr 12/99) - It's almost the end of the road for...well, the roads, as the Department of Transportation prepares to close them for the season.

John Johansen, service centre manager for Grimshaw Trucking Ltd., said Friday his drivers are finding the roads all the way from Alberta to be in fairly good condition but said predictions of warmer weather this week mean that time is running out.

"We normally have two or three daily truckloads of goods coming in year-round," he said, "but we're up to five a day now as everyone stocks up."

With a gap of three to four weeks between the closing of the ice crossings and ferry service beginning, Johansen said the company will resort to helicopter cargo-lifts across the Mackenzie River.

Director of Marine Services, Les Shaw, looks after the Liard and Ndulee ice crossings.

"They're doing fine right now," he said Friday. "We've had cold weather over here (Fort Simpson)...but they'll probably be closed before next weekend."

Shaw said the ice bridges would first close to light traffic and be left open an extra day or two to allow transport trucks to get their loads across.

Shaw said ferry service at Liard and Fort Providence should be up and running by the second week of May. He said the Ndulee ferry will be ready to go a week or two later, once the Mackenzie River is clear of ice.

Speaking from Inuvik on Friday, regional superintendent Gurdev Jagpal said the two Dempster Highway ice crossings at the Peel and Arctic Red rivers are in good condition and, depending on weather, may stay open until the end of the month.

Jagpal reported the winter roads to Tuktoyaktuk and Aklavik also to be in decent shape but said there is some overflow and that maintenance would stop after the 15th.

In Hay River, regional superintendent Art Barnes said Friday the Fort Providence ice crossing should, like the others, make it through the weekend but that next weekend is in doubt. He said the department tries to provide 48-hours notice before closing any crossing.

"It's difficult to do because conditions change quickly," he said, "but we try to give a return time for truckers filling up in Edmonton."

The Dettah ice road was scheduled to close at noon on Friday.

The department advises that anyone making use of the winter roads and crossings can check conditions by telephoning 1-800-661-0750. There are also specific numbers for the Dempster Highway, 661-0752, and ferry service, 661-0751.