Derek Neary
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (Aug 13/99) - The British Columbia government is spending another $500,000 to improve Highway 77 between Fort Liard and Fort Nelson.

In an announcement last week, the government said this will increase the total amount invested in the highway to $900,000 for the fiscal year.

According to Energy and Mines Minister Dan Miller, oil and gas activity in northern British Columbia is a key factor in the decision.

Harry Lali, minister of Highways, said the investment will improve the condition of close to 140 km of Highway 77.

"It will make the highway safer for all motorists, including tourists in the Northeast, and save travel time for the oil and gas industry," he stated in a press release.

Ron Wiebe, public information officer for the Ministry of Highways, said the money will be used primarily for gravelling and for calcium, a dust suppressant.

He said the Ministry of Highways and Transportation has no precise figures on the volume of traffic on the highway because a traffic count has never been conducted there. However, it's estimated that fewer than 500 vehicles per day travel the road and 80 per cent of those are thought to be resource sector vehicles, he said.

Wiebe admitted that he has fielded some complaints about the condition of the road over the years.

"There has been some feedback on it, yeah," he said. "But the majority of the province probably would not even be able to identify where that road is. With funding being the issue that it is these day, we tend to apply our limited funds to bigger population centres, to higher volume roads."

The announcement undoubtedly comes as welcome news in Fort Liard, where local residents refer to the cobblestone road as the "goat trail," according to Don Antoine, employment and training co-ordinator for the Acho Dene Koe.

Phyllis Harris, a taxi driver in Fort Liard, said she is very pleased with the initiative. "That's really good because, especially when it rains, it gets so beat up and its filled with washboard and potholes," said Harris, who makes an average of 20 trips per month to Fort Nelson and back.

She said she's glad the dust issue is being addressed because it is a major problem on Highway 77.

"When a big truck goes by, even though they do make a good effort to slow down, because of their weight they still kick up so much dust that you have to come to a complete stop and have to wait sometimes up to a minute for the dust to clear before you can go on," she explained. "That really slows down a trip."

Harris, who has been driving on the road since 1991, said she has noticed a definite increase in the traffic on the road, especially since oil and gas exploration and development has begun taking place in the southern Northwest Territories.