BY Michael GanleyR A bridge too far and a road not far enough Will the Deh Cho Bridge hobble the Mackenzie Highway?

When talk turns to transportation in the North, it’s generally not long before it turns to the long-held dream of a highway down the Mackenzie Valley and all the way to Inuvik and even beyond, to Tuktoyaktuk. For 70 years there has been talk of such a road, and along the way various sections of what could be the road’s path have been surveyed and studied. In recent years, some things have actually been done: A number of bridges have been built over streams and rivers between Wrigley, where the all-season highway currently ends, and Norman Wells.

The most recent development for the highway was the announcement by Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl of $975,000 for a study into the feasibility of building the 140-kilometre portion from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk, on the Beaufort Sea. There is some symbolism in the move that might be valuable to the governing party – working to complete the national highway system from sea to sea to sea – but there’s precious little in it to further the interests of the NWT. Any such road would allow the people in Tuk to hop in their vehicles anytime and head to Inuvik or however far they want to go, but from an overall road transportation perspective, it doesn’t do much.

First of all, it’s not much more than a study that will allow the communities to look at something that will help some time in the future. More importantly, it can’t be called a road to resources because while there are resources, there is no transmission line. It might be sensible if Tuk had a port, but it doesn’t.

In making the announcement, Strahl said the Inuvik to Tuk road is a “logical first step” in the construction of a Mackenzie Valley highway. Quite the contrary. The logical first step is to work our way north from Wrigley. That would open the five communities of the Sahtu to the world. It would spur exploration for minerals, oil and gas and give the region the opportunity to be an economic contributor. It would be a good start on finishing the road up the valley to Inuvik. And it’s this road, not one to Tuk, which would provide benefits to Inuvik. Ray Anderson, president of Matco Transportation, estimates that freight costs from Edmonton to Inuvik would be cut by as much as half if his trucks could drive a Mackenzie highway instead of having to go through the Yukon and along the Dempster Highway.

The other big highway-related news out of the NWT is the latest on the Deh Cho Bridge. With the collapse of Atcon Construction, the entire project has come home to roost with the territorial government. The $182-million cost of the bridge is now on the territorial books. Victoria-based Ruskin Construction, which had been the prime subcontractor on the project, has now been hired to complete the bridge. It, in turn, recently awarded a $26-million contract for the steel fabrication to Quebec-based Structal Bridges and Western Canadian bridge manufacturer Rapid-Span Structures. So, the bridge is moving again, and the new opening date is the fall of 2011.

As Anderson says, we’ve been caught up in the politics of the bridge and forgotten about the economics. Anderson and many others in the trucking industry thought the bridge was a good idea when the construction estimates were coming in at $60-million. The industry thought a toll of $5 per tonne was OK, and even $6 per tonne still made it worthwhile. But with the bridge now projected to cost $182-million, are the tolls going to be $15 or $20 per tonne? “Then it will become quite significant on the shelves in Yellowknife,” he says.

And if the bridge is not going to bring down the cost of living for Yellowknifers and others on this side of the great river, what’s the point? A lot of other things could have been done with that money.

But, at this point, it’s in for a penny, in for a pound. Let’s just hope we will soon have a bridge that costs less than $200-million and that lasts for 100 years. As Jack Rowe says in the Players interview on page 20, the criminal thing would be if we allowed the troubles we’ve had with the bridge to stop us from taking on other legacy projects. If, in 20 years, we look back at a series of budgets of more than $1.4-billion and have nothing to show for it because we were too stung by the bridge, that will be the shame.

So let’s get to work on the Mackenzie Valley highway, beginning in Wrigley.