Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 10/99) - There will be a 75 per cent increase in truck traffic on the Lupin ice road this year and that has people on the Ingraham Trail worried.

Last year only one mine, BHP's Ekati, used the ice road to the Barren Lands. This year Lupin is restarting and it is anticipated construction will begin on the Diavik diamond mine.

It is expected 3,150-3,250 round trips will be made on the route. Trucks travelling the ice road roll through Enterprise, up Highway 3, through Rae-Edzo, by Yellowknife and to the end of the Ingraham Trail to get to the southern end of the 670- kilometre ice road.

"I'm really frightened somebody is going to get killed this year, I've just got that feeling in my bones," said Kate Tompkins, secretary-treasurer of the Ingraham Trail Landowners Association. "I just hope it isn't me."

Echo Bay logistics manager Kirk McLellan said his company has discussed safety issues, including speed limits, separation between trucks and monitoring, with the RCMP and the trucking companies it is contracting to resupply Lupin.

"We're going to do everything we can do to limit the traffic during the busy hours," said McLellan, referring to morning and early evening traffic to and from work along the Ingraham Trail.

Open for an average of 65 days between January and March, the ice road offers mines a far cheaper way of shipping goods north than air transport, the only method possible the rest of the year. Most of the trucks heading to the mines will be hauling diesel fuel.

The private ice road will be built by Nuna Logistics this year and co-managed by Lupin mine owner Echo Bay Mines and BHP, owner of the Ekati.

Tompkins said the government has agreed to meet with Ingraham Trail Association representatives after the appointment of a minister of Transportation. She said she has witnessed trucks speeding, cutting into the oncoming lane on sharp turns and tailgating.

Mark Schauerte, acting superintendent of the North Slave region for the Department of Transportation, said a meeting will be held Dec. 10 to work out details of the coming ice road season.

"The position of the department is that this is a safe road if travellers follow the speed limit and use the road safely," said Schauerte.

He said that during the last very busy ice road season, in 1997, the department had four times the usual number of patrols between Rae and Tibbitt Lake.

As a result, there was a 32 per cent increase in the number of traffic law violation prosecutions.

Five per cent of the total convictions were against drivers of transport trucks.

Drivers of passenger vehicles were convicted of the remaining 95 per cent of offenses.

Schauerte said truck firms have adopted a 50 km/hr speed limit on their drivers along the Ingraham Trail.

Mixed in with the additional truck traffic will be more Department of Transport enforcement vehicles.

"If the numbers are around 4,000, like I'm hearing, we're going to pay an awful lot of extra attention," Schauerte said.

He added the road has no problem standing up to the weight passing over it during the winter road season because it's frozen at that time.

Diavik originally estimated it would have 2,400-2,600 round trips up the ice road this year.

But spokesperson Tom Hoefer said that estimate has been reduced to 1,200-1,300 because construction of the mine is now to take place over three years instead of two.

BHP said it plans to ship 1,400 truckloads. Echo Bay Mines estimates 550 round trips will be made up the ice road to resupply Lupin mine.