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Inuvik-Tuk Highway construction could be underway by next winter
All-weather, five-year highway project has price tag of up to $300 million
Katherine Hudson Northern News Services Published Thursday, March 1, 2012
The all-weather highway project is in round two of its technical review phase leading to public consultations with the Environmental Impact Review Board and, if all goes smoothly, the Department of Transportation is hoping construction will begin next winter. Deputy minister Russell Neudorf addressed town council on Feb. 22 with an update on the highway, covering everything from the cost and the projected length of the job to funding negotiations with the federal government and procurement processes for the work. The Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway will be 137 kilometres long. Of that, just more than half will be on land belonging to the Inuvialuit. Initial discussions are underway with the Inuvialuit Land Administration to negotiate rates for granular royalties and secure land tenure for the highway surface right-of-way. "Granular itself is about half of the total cost, actually spent on just moving dirt, producing dirt, moving it, putting it in place," said Neudorf. It is estimated that 4.5 million cubic metres of granular material will be needed for the length of the road. The current scheme of the road takes off from Old Navy Road. Neudorf said the department hopes to acquire a decision from the environmental assessment process in early fall, and following that, there are licences and permits to acquire. Before any money changes hands between the federal government and the GNWT, of which $150 million is earmarked for the road, the environmental assessment must be completed. But negotiations are to be carried out concerning the amount, now that the preliminary cost of the road is estimated at between $250 and $300 million, more than the $200 million figure given to Infrastructure Canada when the $150 million was announced in the federal budget last year. The federal government entered into a 75-25 funding split for the road with the notion of $200-million being the cost. "The $150-million limit is something we will need to talk to the federal government about," Neudorf said. "It's basically a result of not having any detailed discussions with the federal government prior to the announcement on cost in particular. So they needed to come up with some estimate for the budget, and guesstimated $200 million, said 75 per cent of that is $150 million, so that was the number that they put into the budget, which is obviously why we would like to have a discussion with them yet about that number." Pushing forward Neudorf said if the department can "keep pushing it forward aggressively and get the approvals that we need when we need to," then construction would start next winter. Depending on how the GNWT procures the project and who contracts the work, its construction time is estimated at about five years. The department is in the process of finalizing a contract with E. Gruben's Transport, which is teaming up with Dowlands and Kavik-Stantec Inc. to undertake a geotechnical program this winter. The program will be starting in the next few weeks and run until April or May. The geotechnical information helps define the quality and location of material, which help with design parameters and costing of the project. The information such as what materials are out there and how much will be used for the road also feeds into the environmental assessment process. "There are lots of challenges yet and lots of things to figure out, but we are moving forward as quickly as we can," said Neudorf, adding the GNWT's objectives are to maximize Northern involvement, employment and business opportunities in the creation of the northernmost section of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. Mayor Denny Rodgers said employment will hopefully be a key consequence of the project in Inuvik. "It's been a little quiet here in the past couple of years and a project of this magnitude could be good for our region and the people working in the oil and gas sector and building roads," he said.
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