Jessica Klinkenberg
Northern News Services
Published Friday, August 24, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Old town resident Kerri Riehl wasn't concerned about the construction across the street from her house until her truck became coated with mud.

"It's not the construction that bothers me," she said. "Construction is a fact of life. (But) people should be able to continue with their day-to-day life. I just want it to be safe for us or anyone driving by."

A new Department of Fisheries and Oceans building is being built across the street on MacDonald Drive.

NWT Rock Services began some specialized drilling this week to drive in steel pilings, said Rick Miller, operations manager for the company.

"Once you get down several feet it gets wet," he said.

"We inject air down the hole and it comes up, kind of like a geyser."

He said the same thing happened when they worked on drilling the holes for the steel pilings at the Bailey House site earlier this year. Miller said he is aware of people's concerns.

"The last thing we want to do is damage anyone's property," he said.

However he said that the mud should be flying less.

Miller said that when construction began they were drilling closest to the road. Now they're moving further back from the road.

He added that they also brought in a mine safety inspector to help them try to cut down on the amount of mud that has been flying up.