Hit the road!
All but one winter road open for travel

Cindy MacDougall
Northern News Services

Fort Providence (Jan 24/00) - Winter road construction is winding up across the NWT -- an annual ritual welcomed by travellers and communities alike.

Construction is on schedule this year, even though one of the North's most important crossings was put out of action for a week after a truck plunged through the ice covering the Mackenzie River near Fort Providence on Jan. 10.

The Super B-Train diesel tanker truck was removed from the ice Jan. 15.

Art Barnes, regional superintendent for the Department of Transportation, said the removal of the transport truck went well.

"I was quite happy to see a professional team work quickly and remove the truck," Barnes said. "They did a good job, without incident."

RTL Robinson Enterprises was hired by the truck's owner, Alberta-based Petrohaul, to remove the tanker from the ice.

RTL risks manager Janet Robinson said small charges of dynamite were used to free the truck. A crane and truck winches were used to pull the vehicle out of the water and onto shore. The diesel was pumped out of the tanks before the truck was removed.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans issued a blasting permit to RTL, and members of several federal and territorial agencies were on hand to ensure everything went smoothly.

Carrying a fuel load of diesel, the tanker truck, which weighed 61,000 kilograms, was too heavy for the 4,000 kilogram maximum-load capacity ice crossing. It crashed through the ice about one kilometre from the Mackenzie's northern shore.

The driver of the truck, 33-year-old Alberta resident Daniel Archambault, has been charged by Fort Providence RCMP with dangerous driving and operating a vehicle exceeding the maximum weight on a seasonal highway. He is scheduled to appear in Fort Providence territorial court March 22.

The full-weight 64,000-kilogram ice crossing at Fort Providence is now open.

With the re-opening of the ice crossing, all but one of the NWT's winter roads are open for the 10- to 12-week season.

Les Shaw, highway supervisor for the Department of Transportation, said the Wrigley to Tulita winter road is still closed, but will open later this month.

"We usually don't get it open until early February, but we're hoping to have it open by the 24th or 25th (of January)," Shaw said.

The Wrigley-Tulita road is not an ice crossing, but a road made from packed snow over the land.

The community of Tulita is looking forward to completion of the winter road, and the renewed link to the outside world.

Jason Wood, manager of Tulita's Northern store, said supplies of non-perishable food and other items are replenished once the Wrigley road opens.

"The semis come up from Edmonton as soon as the road opens," he said. "They bring everything from groceries to retail to furniture items.

"The supplies keep us until the summer barge (goes back in service on the Mackenzie)."

Wood said the store has plenty of supplies, but he wouldn't mind the trucks showing up a bit early.

"I'm waiting for them to show up in my backyard," he said. "Then the hard work of unloading will begin."

The Liard River at Fort Simpson is open to a 40,000-kilogram limit, while a one-lane crossing over the Mackenzie at N'dulee/ Camsell Bend has a 29,000-kilogram limit.

The Arctic Red crossing of the Mackenzie River, ice road at Tsiigehtchic and the Peel River road all have 64,000-kilogram limits.

The Dettah road is open to traffic weighing a maximum of 10,000 kilograms.

On other crossings:

Inuvik to Aklavik: 6,000-kilogram limit; Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk, 12,000-kilogram limit; Mackenzie River crossing at Tulita, one lane only, 15,000-kilogram limit; Norman Wells to Tulita, 15,000-kilogram limit; Norman Wells to Fort Good Hope, 20,000-kilogram limit; Trout Lake, 10,000-kilogram limit; and, Nahanni Butte: 40,000-kilogram limit.