The Merv Hardie ferry sits dry-docked on the the shore of the Mackenzie River in late March. The ferry has remained there since the Deh Cho Bridge opened in November 2012. - photo courtesy of Megan Nash

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
After 40 years of serving as Yellowknifers' transportation link to the south, the Merv Hardie ferry sits idle on the shore of the Mackenzie River.

There was some talk of moving the ferry to other river crossings farther north after the opening of Deh Cho Bridge in November 2012, but it's been sitting in dry dock ever since.

Nonetheless, the Merv Hardie - which had its inaugural sailing across the Mackenzie in 1972 - could be back ferrying traffic at a moment's notice if the need arises, says an official with the Department of Transportation.

"If we have a catastrophic ferry issue at any location, (the Merv Hardie) can, within a day and a half, be put in the water and steamed in the direction it needs to be steamed to," said Kevin McLeod, director of highways and marine with the Department of Transportation.

Those crossings include the Liard River near Fort Simpson, the Arctic Red River near Tsiigehtchic, the Peel River near Fort McPherson and the Mackenzie River at the N'Dulee Crossing between Fort Simpson and Wrigley.

The Merv Hardie could also resume its long-time post.

"If we have to close the bridge for any particular reason, we could put the ferry back in the water and assign it essential traffic. Right now, it's an operational spare for all our crossing areas," said McLeod.

He added that should one of the four ferries run by the GNWT need replacement, the Merv Hardie could take on that role in the long-term.

"This would be a perfect opportunity to put it into service at another location if its capabilities are the right thing because each site has different water levels and different current strengths and the ferry is pretty deep and it's pretty robust, so it can't go everywhere, but it could go to some of those locations," said McLeod.

The Department of Transportation has also floated around some other long-term options, although before it gets a permanent assignment, the department intends to change its engines out and give the ferry a refurbishment.

"There are some places along the Mackenzie River where a ferry would be very useful to the government or to an industry," said McLeod.

He cited the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Optic Link project and the Mackenzie Valley Highway operation as projects the Merv Hardie may be useful for.

Spring road restrictions likely to return

During spring breakup last year, the Department of Transportation announced road bans on either side of

the Deh Cho Bridge for the first time, restricting commercial weight loads by 25 per cent.

The ban was on transport trucks travelling between the junction of Highway 3 and Highway 1 - 20 km south of the Mackenzie - and Behchoko.

According to McLeod, this spring could see a similar situation.

"Depending on how Mother Nature decides to bring in spring, whether it's very quickly or very slowly, we monitor the performance of the road and put road bans

on to make sure that trucks aren't over-weighted that would make rutting on the highway dangerous," said McLeod.

He added that prior to last year, there was no reason to institute a road ban because during spring breakup, Highway 3 on either side of the Mackenzie wasn't used as the ferry couldn't operate.

"I suspect that the section by Fort Providence has never been road banned because the ferry was out of service and the ice bridge was out of service, so Mother Nature told us 'no trucks on the road.'"

McLeod added that right now, the department is allowing more than the normal weight load on trucks because of the frozen road, and says he hopes truckers are taking advantage of this to make up for any spring load restrictions that could potentially last three to four weeks.