DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE - As the temperature warms a well-known feature of the Deh Cho's highway system is entering what could be its final weeks.

The closest call on the Mackenzie River ice crossing came in January 2000 when a truck loaded with 48,000 litres of diesel fuel attempted to drive on the crossing that had only recently opened to light traffic. - photo courtesy of Jeff Philipp

"We don't anticipate we'll need the ice crossing again," said Earl Blacklock, the manager of public affairs and communications with the Department of Transportation.

The Deh Cho Bridge is scheduled to be completed this November and even if there is a delay of a month or two the Fort Providence ferry could continue running for that period, Blacklock said. It's normally the 2.8 kilometre long and 50 metre wide crossing that allows traffic to keep moving along Highway 3 for more than three winter months.

Richard Lafferty can remember most of the crossing's history because he was part of it. Before retiring in 2007 Lafferty, originally from Fort Providence, spent 43 years working on the territories' highways.

The crossing was first constructed in the late 1950s when the highway system was being built. In its first years the crossing was created on Beaver Lake above the present location, Lafferty said.

The crossing was moved closer to Dory Point where it is today when Highway 3 was completed to the river in the early 1960s, said Lafferty. The federal government was in charge of the first crossings and Lafferty was hired to the responsible agency - the Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources - in 1963 as a heavy equipment operator. The territory took over the responsibility later in the decade.

"In those days we didn't have the technology we do today," Lafferty said.

Lafferty remembers carrying equipment on foot over the ice to check its depth to see if flooding could start. A major development occurred in the mid 1980s when the department acquired ice spray pumps, which can spray large volumes of water as a mist over the crossing.

"It helped build the ice quicker," he said.

Lafferty isn't sentimental about the end of something he worked on for so many years.

"The work was something that was always there and had to be done," he said.

Having stood on the crossing 43 years ago with an ice pick in hand dealing with overflow and a variety of other conditions Lafferty said it's like a dream come true to see the Deh Cho Bridge being built. He says he sees the benefits of having traffic move 24 hours a day without delays caused by break-up and freeze-up.

Chief Joachim Bonnetrouge of Deh Gah Got'ie First Nation isn't sure if Fort Providence residents will miss the crossing when it's gone but he believes they'll miss the peace and quiet that came in the spring during the period between the crossing shutting and the ferry opening.

"It will be a change I guess that we'll have to get used to," he said.

Bonnetrouge can remember when Bombardiers would occasionally come to Fort Providence from Hay River in the winters in the mid 1950s before the ice crossing was made. They disturbed the peacefulness of the community, he said.

Bonnetrouge can also remember going across the crossing a few times in the 1960s while the route was still across Beaver Lake. Although he didn't see it Bonnetrouge remembers the closest call that's happened on the crossing.

In January 2000 News/North reported a trucker from Alberta attempted to drive his 61,000 kilogram fuel truck across the crossing that had just opened to light traffic weighing up to 4,000 kg. Two trailer units of the truck filled with 48,000 litres of diesel fuel broke through the ice and were partially submerged while the cab stayed above the surface. The driver escaped without injury and the fuel was removed without any spilling into the river.

The accident created a lot of excitement and concern in the hamlet. It was lucky the driver wasn't drowned, Bonnetrouge said.

According to the department of Transportation, during its history there have been no deaths during the construction of the crossing.

One group that may miss the crossing is the men from Fort Providence who work on it. The crossing is well known in the territory and there's a camaraderie between the men who construct it for the Department of Transportation, said Rob Billard, the regional manager of highway operations for the South Slave.

"That's their job and they're proud of it," Billard said.

Seven part-time and eight full-time staff are utilized to build the crossing each year. A few staff usually begin doing prep work at the end of November.

Work on the crossing itself normally begins in early December but it is all weather dependent, said Billard. The ice depth has to reach 10 centimetres before staff can walk onto the crossing with augers to begin the flooding.

The initial flooding builds up the ice so it can support the weight of heavier equipment including hydraulic augers and then typhoon pumps and eventually ice spray pumps, Billard said.

"There's quite a technology that's developed that's associated with this," he said.

In the last 10 years the crossing has had an average opening date of Dec. 28 for light traffic. Once the crossing has opened work then continues on the larger heavy traffic lane. When the ice reaches 127 cm the crossing is opened to vehicles weighing up to 64,000 kg. The ice can reach a thickness of 1.6 metres at its peak depending on the year and the weather, Billard said.

The crossing generally takes six to eight weeks to complete from start to finish at a cost of $150,000. The savings resulting from no longer having to build the crossing or run the Fort Providence ferry were identified as part of the business case for the Deh Cho Bridge. The money will be used to help cover the interest on the bridge's loan as well as operating and maintenance costs associated with the structure.

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