SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A crew from the Department of Transportation was hard at work on Monday, using a grader and a front-end loader to try to smooth out the Yellowknife entrance to the Dettah ice road.

Department of Transportation worker David King uses a front-end loader to try to smooth out a rough section of the entrance to the Dettah ice road next to Rotary Park on Monday. The ice road was full of ruts and partially flooded over the weekend after a water main break several blocks away. - John McFadden/NNSL photo

That part of the route across Yellowknife Bay was badly rutted and partially flooded over the weekend after a water line break several blocks away.

"We found out as early as Friday that there is water seeping in from the city's storm drains," said Michael Conway, the department's regional superintendent. "We had a grader out there and crews worked all weekend trying to move the water and slush to the side and maintain as smooth a driving surface as possible."

Conway said the crew was hampered on the weekend by mild temperatures that approached the freezing mark. They had better luck on Monday with colder weather. He added that they had divided the road in half at the entrance - one half for the public to use - while the crew worked on the other half. The part of the road that was closed to traffic on Monday was about 15 metres wide and about a half-kilometre long. It was not causing any traffic flow problems for vehicles either leaving the ice road or heading out on the lake.

Over the weekend, some drivers were not chancing it, worried that they could get stuck. Even with repairs underway, Conway said motorists should use extra caution.

"The water is still seeping in. The work will be done when the water stops flowing onto the lake. It's going to be rough no matter what - it's going to be a mix of snow and ice," Conway said. "It's going to be slippery, slushy and wet over the short term. Be careful as you drive through."

Conway said he could not recall this kind of problem happening in the past at this time of year. He said it is similar to what occurs when temperatures get above freezing and the ice starts to melt, which it will later in the season.

"Spring is coming but what we look at is direct sunlight. If you have a clear sunny day with a warm temperature - that's when you get the most melting," Conway said. "Over the weekend it was pretty cloudy. It was about -8 (Celsius) on Sunday. You can have that kind of day when it's cloudy and it doesn't affect the roads too much. Direct sunlight is what starts to decompose the winter roads."

Nalini Naidoo, the City of Yellowknife's communications director, stated in an e-mail that they were notified late last week that water from city's burst pipes had reached the ice road.

"One of the city's stormwater/drainage outfalls is at Great Slave Lake off 45 St. and School Draw Ave., so any water breaks in the downtown core makes its way to this outfall, Naidoo stated. "The city does not have any water main breaks at this time so this water is likely from breaks on residential water services in the downtown area, most notably a break (in a service line) at Bison Apartments, which we believe to be the cause of most of this water."

Naidoo said the break was scheduled to be repaired yesterday.

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