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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq pressed a button on a detonator Tuesday and blasted away a massive chunk of rock to make way for a new bypass road to the Kam Lake industrial park.

The 1,200 kg explosion cleared away rock for the expansion of the Deh Cho Boulevard to Highway 3.

Aglukkaq was joined by territorial Transportation Minister Michael McLeod and Mayor Gord Van Tighem. They were there for an announcement by the federal government that the NWT Gas Tax Fund will get another $60 million over its 2010-2014 time frame. The previous gas tax fund contained $37.5 million, which was slated to end in 2010.

The fund is federal money, collected from taxes on gasoline, which is distributed to provinces and territories for environmentally sustainable infrastructure projects, including the Deh Cho Boulevard extension.

"The money will be used to pay for environmentally sustainable infrastructure like water, wastewater, solid waste, community energy systems, transportation infrastructure, and capacity building," said Van Tighem, who is also the president of the Northwest Territories Association of Communities.

Van Tighem added that the funding will help municipalities chip away at the $400 million community infrastructure deficit in the NWT.

Besides the Deh Cho Boulevard extension, the fund will go towards the completion of the Kakisa River bridge on Highway 3, the Tuktoyaktuk gravel access road, and water treatment plants across the NWT.