SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Highways around Yellowknife will be getting $10 million worth of work this summer, according to an official with the Department of Transportation.

The Department of Transportation is researching ways to combat permafrost melt along Highway 3, where numerous dips and bumps have formed between Yellowknife and Behchoko. The department says it hopes to have test sections in place by the end of the summer to see what techniques will best improve the overall quality of the road. - Andrew Livingstone/NNSL photo

Larry Purcka, head design and technical support services for the department, said money has been allocated to the Ingraham Trail, the Dettah access road and Highway 3 to Behchoko this year. Purcka said approximately $3 million will be put toward widening a section of the Ingraham Trail this year -- the first part of the construction which Purcka said will take approximately four years -- with at least $2 million for every year after.

"We're going to be making it safer for people to use," he said, adding the department will hopefully be doing blasting and some widening of the section starting at the 35 km mark to the 44 km mark.

While basic annual rehabilitation will take place on the three roads, Purcka said the department is researching how it can improve bumpy Highway 3. Because the road is built over permafrost, the road shifts when it melts, causing it to heave, he said.

"When the permafrost melts and water gets in there, it attracts heat," he said. "We're trying to figure out a way to improve the road on that stretch from Yellowknife to Behchoko."

Consultants will be in town next week to continue looking at ways to improve the road so it's not so much of a "rollercoaster ride," as Purcka put it.

The department is drawing on other jurisdictions in the Northern hemisphere, particularly the Yukon, for different techniques to battle thawing permafrost. Purcka said the Yukon currently has test sections in place on the Alaska Highway where it faces similar problems to Highway 3.

"We're hoping to do the same thing this year," he said, adding the sections won't be large, but will allow them to test out different options of dealing with road upheaval.

Purcka said it has a little more than $2 million allocated this year for work on Highway 3, which he said will to toward filling potholes and normal rehabilitation work.

The Dettah access road will also have $3 million in work completed on it. Purcka explained the chip seal put down a few years ago didn't hold, leaving the road in bad shape. He said the department plans to grade the road and get it into better shape so chip seal can be put down in the coming years.