Iqaluit (Oct 25/04) - With no roads connecting the territory's communities, they are not the first thing you think of when it comes to Nunavut.

Across the territory, however, there are short roads that run through or just outside the hamlets.

With such a diverse landscape and range of mineralization, what recipe is used by Nunavut road crews?

In Hall Beach, the roads are all gravel, which is found in and around the community, said public works clerk John Pialaq.

Sometimes there is a need to go about 12 km outside of town when looking for stone.

If the gravel is too large, then it gets crushed using a special machine at the airport, Pialaq said.

Too much rain can cause pot holes in the town's main road and then even more gravel is used to fill them.

Excess sun causes a different problem.

"Sometimes we have to put some salt on it and spray it with water to reduce dustiness," Pialaq said.

Gravel isn't available in all parts of the territory, at which point communities have to get a little more creative.

In Kimmirut, reports of streets made of marble have turned out to be false, said senior administrative officer Cecil Marshall.

Marble not used

While the surrounding area is full of low-grade marble, Marshall said, it is not used in the construction of the hamlet's streets.

"All of the streets are made with sand," he said, adding the sand is originally course and then screened for use on the roads.

Pavement is a hard thing to find in Nunavut.

The only centre currently rolling out blacktop is the capital.

With a recently completed paving job out near the Road to Nowhere, the City of Iqaluit is getting closer to paving all of what is now known as Queen Elizabeth Lane, or formerly, Ring Road.A child rides his bike through the streets in Kimmirut this summer. The streets are actually paved with filtered sand. Reports of the hamlet paving its streets with crushed marble turned out to be false.

Brent Reaney/NNSL photo