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The Deh Cho Bridge has allowed traffic to cross the Mackenzie River 24/7 during spring breakup. The increased number of transport trucks was damaging Highway 3 because water is saturating the ground under the road surface, prompting officials to put restrictions on the highway. - photo courtesy of the GNWT Department of Transportation

Highway 3 truck traffic restricted
Higher volume over new bridge and melting under road surface prompts vehicle weight limit

Laura Busch
Northern News Services
Published Monday, May 20, 2013

DEH CHO
The road surface on Highway 3 is feeling the stress of increased truck traffic now that there are no delays crossing the Mackenzie River during spring breakup with the opening of the Deh Cho Bridge last November.

Load restrictions were placed on the highway May 16 by the Department of Transportation to prevent further damage to the roadway, which could affect the cost of goods for communities north of Fort Providence.

Spring is a vulnerable time for the highway, when melt water saturates the ground under the road, said Department of Transportation spokesperson Earl Blacklock.

"You could have a major break in the road, which could cause a collision, or you could have a washout," said Blacklock, explaining why the decision was made to restrict the weight of transport truck loads.

A washout closed Highway 7 to all traffic on May 14 due to similar conditions, said Blacklock. Highway 7 was re-opened to light traffic on May 16, and a maximum weight of 4,500 kg remained on May 17.

Effective May 16, transport trucks travelling between the junction of Highway 3 and Highway 1, located 20 km south of the Mackenzie River, and Behchoko must carry a maximum of 75 per cent of their full weight, including the weight of the vehicle.

"Seventy-five per cent in most trucking terms winds up being about 50 to 60 per cent of your payload," said Blair Weatherby, past president of the NWT Trucking Association.

The restriction means trucks must carry lighter loads, which increases the cost of shipping goods. In Yellowknife, the Co-op grocery store is paying 34 per cent more to have groceries transported, said manager Ben Walker.

"I think there's a laissez-faire attitude because it's a safety issue. But they don't pay. So am I annoyed? Of course I'm annoyed," Walker said. "For the consumer, maybe nothing goes up. But our co-op members will pay for this. It comes out of their pocket."

Whether the weight restriction will affect prices in Fort Providence or Behchoko is less clear because those stores generally have smaller orders.

"This is the first I've heard of the ban, so it really hasn't affected us yet," said Greg Turnbull, manager of the Northern store in Behchoko.

On May 17, the store received a small shipment of groceries, which Turnbull said was a fairly light load so it was not impacted by the highway restrictions. However, if the weight restrictions are still in effect May 22 when the store's larger order is scheduled to come in, it may affect the price of goods.

"It would impact us. We would have to bring in less stuff," said Turnbull. "Overall, it would be a negative effect for our customers because it would definitely increase their costs."

In the past, the store absorbed the cost of shuttling goods across the river when necessary, so the possibility of absorbing added shipping costs now will be considered, he said. However, before the Deh Cho Bridge was built, companies north of the river stockpiled goods to minimize additional costs.

"I thought now that the bridge is built, we wouldn't have to deal with that anymore," said Turnbull. "It would have been nice to have a little more warning."

Blacklock found out about the weight restrictions May 15 and agreed the short notice is regrettable.

"Could people have been informed better? Yes, I think that we would say the short notice is something we're taking a look at. The expectation was that we would have to have some kind of a road ban but we weren't expecting it this early," he said.

This is the first time there has been a weight restriction on Highway 3. However, they are common at spring time in every jurisdiction in Canada, he said. It was never an issue on Highway 3 because breakup prevented traffic from crossing the river

until a ferry could begin operations.

"During this period, there wouldn't be any trucks coming across for these three or four weeks every year - you wouldn't have any trucks coming across. So, which is preferable, 75 per cent or zero?" asked Blacklock.

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