INUVIK - Plans for an all-weather highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk have prompted concerns about wildlife in the area, but community leaders are adamant the project is still moving forward.

Last fall, the federal government announced it would pay $975,000 toward a feasibility study of the 140-km proposed highway.

Last month the two communities, along with the GNWT Department of Transportation, submitted a project description to the Environmental Impact Screening Committee for the Inuvialuit region. On April 14, the committee recommended the proposal undergo further review.

A news website reported last week that Tuk mayor Merven Gruben, a long-time proponent of the highway, said the project was dead.

"The environmental impact committee has just killed this project," Gruben told the media source last Tuesday.

But two days later, Gruben told News/North he was still optimistic about the project. "They have another screening meeting on Friday - hopefully we can take another shot at them," Gruben said. "It's not dead."

Gruben declined to elaborate on specific next steps for the project as he was busy travelling to Inuvik for meetings about the road.

"I can't really talk because I wasn't really involved in the meeting. I was trying to fly here today," he said.

Inuvik mayor Denny Rodgers said the committee had more environmental concerns and required more information about the road's possible effects on caribou and other wildlife in the region, so the group is going to re-submit its proposal with added information.

"The option that they responded to us was that they need a little more clarification. It's definitely not rejected," Rodgers said. "Obviously there were some concerns, I think, from the HTC (hunter's and trapper's committee) with the caribou. It wasn't all negative stuff. Actually a lot of the information was very positive," he added. "I think the majority of people certainly support it, but like any project, you have to do it right. There are things that have to be studied and I think at the end of the day everybody will agree on that."

According to the initial project description submitted to the committee, environmental, engineering, and archeological field studies were scheduled to begin in May and continue through spring, summer and fall, with geo-technical studies planned for next winter.

Early estimates for the road pegged costs between $200-$300 million, depending on the route chosen, with a rough completion date of late 2012.