BEAUFORT DELTA
The Inuvik-to-Tuktoyaktuk Highway is slightly behind schedule but that's not worrying either the contractor or NWT Department of Transportation officials.

Larry Purcka, the assistant director for the Inuvik-to-Tuktoyaktuk Highway, with the Department of Transportation calls the project "unique" and the largest he's worked on or undertaken by the GNWT. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

The project got off to a later-than-planned start over the winter due to equipment delays, said Larry Purcka, the assistant director of the project, and Kurt Wainman, the owner of Northwind Industries.

Northwind Industries has formed a joint-venture company along with E. Gruben's Transport out of Tuktoyaktuk, which is the principal contractor on the project.

A large number of heavy equipment items had to be purchased and delivered to the Beaufort Delta region for the contractors to use, said Wainman and Purcka. That left about two months of prime construction time in the winter months, rather than three, four or five months, said Purcka.

The unusually warm winter and spring in the region also shortened the work schedule, they said.

Due to the warm conditions, the project shut down for the season at the end of April. It will resume on a small scale during the warmer months as conditions dry out, as preparations continue for a full season in year two of the project.

Purcka said workers should make up for that lost time next winter.

Wainman said about 13 kilometres of the road were built along the south end of the highway, while about 16 were built on the north end from Tuktoyaktuk.

The plan is to build the highway from both ends and meet in the middle in year three of construction. That's a pace of 20 kilometres a year over the three years from each end of the highway, which will be 120 kilometres long.

An additional 20 kilometres road south of Tuktoyaktuk to the highway has already been built.

The highway, Purcka said, will be considered the northern part of the future Mackenzie Valley Highway that will link the southern stretches of the NWT to the Beaufort Delta region via Enterprise, rather than a continuation of the existing Dempster Highway.

He called it the largest project the GNWT has attempted, and the biggest he's worked on.

It's also a unique project, he said.

The entire highway will sit on permafrost, Purcka noted, meaning it has to be constructed during the cold months to preserve the extremely-sensitive ground. That's not new for the Northern reaches of the NWT where roads are often built in the cold months, but the amount of moisture and ice in the ground is quite different from anywhere else he's familiar with.

While the road is bound to remind people of the Dempster Highway, the conditions are quite different, said Purcka and Wainman. They added standards are stricter, particularly for environmental impacts.

There are a few roads in northern Russia passing through similar terrain, Purcka said, but they are private roads.

The road is being built without any digging into the ground, which also is quite unusual. It will sit entirely on a berm made of fill to insulate the frozen ground and prevent melting.

"If the ground thaws in conditions like these, the road melts away," said Purcka. "We're trying to draw the frost up into the core to help keep it frozen."

The only significant digging is being done in gravel pits adjacent to the project.

Those pits are owned by the Inuvialuit. Purcka would not reveal the amount of royalties being paid to the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation from those pits.

About 80 per cent of the people working on the construction are from the region, Purka estimated, meaning it's providing considerable economic spinoffs.

The entire project will cost $299 million. The federal government has provided $200 million in funding, with the GNWT paying for the rest, including any cost overruns.

Contractor EGT-Northwind has spent about $150 million on equipment alone," said Purcka.

It is scheduled to be finished in 2018.

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