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Mackenzie Valley Highway will take years to complete Cost of more than $1 billion for all-weather road
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, September 26, 2013
INUVIK
Inuvik residents can expect a substantial wait for a second permanent, all-season highway to link them to the rest of the world.
Jim Stevens, the director of the Mackenzie Valley Highway for the GNWT, was one of the speakers during a public forum on the highway project on Sept. 17 at Ingamo Hall. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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On Sept. 17, the Mackenzie Valley Review Board conducted a seven-hour public forum on the proposed Mackenzie Valley Highway, which would connect the Mackenzie Delta region to the southern sections of the NWT.
Along with the Dempster Highway and the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway now under construction, the highway links would complete a modern road system for the North.
Only a handful of people showed up early for the marathon session, notably Gwich'in Tribal Council Chief Robert Alexie and Tom Wright from the Nihtah Gwich'in Council.
Jim Stevens, the director of the Mackenzie Valley Highway for the GNWT, kicked off the session with a brief presentation on the project.
The Mackenzie Valley Highway would extend from the current Highway 1 at Wrigley to Inuvik and Tuk by linking to the Dempster Highway, Stevens said.
Similar to the Dempster Highway, it will be an all-weather gravel road that will also provide a permanent overland connection to communities such as Norman Wells.
Stevens said the project is likely to be funded in several phases rather than all at once.
"We expect funding to come in chunks," he said. "That makes it likely it could take up to 15 years or so to complete it once the actual construction work begins.
He estimated the cost at about $1.7 billion.
The project is currently in its preliminary stages, and needs to pass through the environmental assessment process before proceeding any further. Funding is also largely contingent on the approval process as well, Stevens said.
"We don't have any funding in place now. Funding is conditional on getting this to the environmental assessment."
That was why the review board was holding the community consultation session, which included other communities in the Mackenzie Valley.
"The major work will be from Fort Good Hope north to Inuvik," Stevens said.
Most of the 40 bridges needed to be built along the route are already in place, he told the spectators, with the exception of that area.
"We have bridges at 36 of the stream crossings," he said. "We still have to do a large crossing at Bear River. From Fort Good Hope north we don't have any bridges. What we have to do to construct those bridges is to collect hydrological assessments at those stream crossings and preliminary designs. So there's a lot of work yet to occur."
Highway route
The highway will follow the Mackenzie Valley Winter Road that runs to Fort Good Hope from the south, Stevens said.
"There's nothing now from Fort Good Hope north," he said. "We've worked with aboriginal groups from around the valley on it."
The Mackenzie Valley Fibre-optic Link Project is following the same basic route.
Much of the necessary data on the roadway is still being collected, and that prompted Wright, among others, to suggest there is a considerable amount of data already existing that could be used.
Wright said the project should use the research collected via oil and gas exploration for the Mackenzie Valley pipeline to help plan the route.
Stevens, and the staff from the review board, said that's being looked at and utilized.
The project will also require considerable input from the Gwich'in people, he said. The Gwich'in Settlement area encompasses most of the area in the problematic section north of Fort Good Hope.
"There is lots of consultation going on with the Gwich'ins," Stevens said.
Other questions revolved around how the permanent road could help tourism and create economic spinoffs. Still others questioned the environmental impacts, particularly on wildlife.
The GNWT website states the project would create 14,000 new construction jobs and reduce the cost of living to families by $16 million.
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