Three week service gap cuts North Slave off from the south
Jorge Barrera
and Dave Sullivan
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Apr 13/01) - The MacKenzie River ice bridge at Fort Providence will close for the season Saturday at noon and ferry crossings won't begin until May 7 at the earliest, leaving Northerners with nothing but an air connection to the south for three weeks.
Gerald Perron, manager of engineering and projects for marine services, said pin-pointing the exact time the Merv Hardy ferry will begin operations is really up to nature's roll of the dice.
"It really depends on river conditions and when the ice breaks up," said Perron.
He said the average opening date falls between May 7 to May 9.
Last year ferry operations ran aground because water levels dropped after break-up.
Meanwhile, it's business as usual for Yellowknife merchants, who are used to stocking up for the hiatus that follows closure of the ice bridge.
They prefer spring breakup to autumn freeze-up when there is no airlift across the Mackenzie, and timing is less certain between the end of the ferry and the opening of the ice bridge.
The spring helicopter shuttle doubles the cost of food deliveries from Edmonton at Yellowknife Direct Charge Co-op. Manager John Taylor says that's not as bad as it sounds, because shipping makes up a small proportion of the store's food costs.
McDonald's Restaurant may have timed things perfectly this year.
"Our truck came in this afternoon," said James McNeice, a Yellowknife manager.
At Weaver and Devore, where manager Ken Weaver also stocked up on canned goods, "you'll only see a price increase in dairy products."
