Thank you, Madam Speaker. The construction of the new Highway No. 7, No. 4 bypass on Ingraham Trail started in October 2012. Work continued through the winter of 2012-13 and into the summer of 2013. Now, I’ve been critical of this project from the onset, for good reason. At approximately $2.5 million per kilometre made this one of the most expensive pieces of road construction in the NWT. With delays and the opening almost four months overdue, it does beg me to ask questions to the Minister of Transportation for some clarification.
The construction of Baker Creek Bridge started approximately in mid-July 2013, yet progress was halted. There appeared to be issues that caused delays in the completion of this bridge way late into the fall of 2013.
Can the Minister elaborate why these delays were pending for the bridge and if there was a design issue? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. There was not a design issue; the issue was with the installation of the bridge. The bridge was installed and the panels that sit on top the bridge were not totally lined up with the installation of the sides of the bridge. It took some time to make the correction, so that has been corrected. There’s no issue with the safety of the bridge or anything. The corrections have been made and the bridge is now properly installed. Thank you.
Thank you. Sorry, I may have said Highway No. 7 earlier. Sorry. Freudian slip. Highway No. 4 bypass. Sorry to the Member.
I appreciate the Minister’s response here, but we know that the designs of bridges are very, very intricate. There’s a lot of engineering designs, it has to go through a flurry of testing before this bridge would be put on any type of abutments or any type of structure. From the sounds of it, it almost sounds like what the Minister tried to elaborate – and I may be wrong in assuming – that this thing almost went in backwards.
Now, if indeed I’m in error, I’d ask the Minister to correct me, but if it’s true, there is definitely… It sounds like extra costs to engineering, it sounds like there could have been extra costs for materials and possibly extra costs in general. With these extra costs and these delays, out of curiosity, were there any extra costs to the taxpayer? Can the Minister elaborate on that? Thank you.
Thank you. This was a guaranteed negotiated contract. There have been no requests from the contractor for any change order to increase the costs of the work that was done on the Highway No. 4 bypass. Thank you.
Thank you. It’s good to hear that we’re still on target for costs. It appears that there are still some chipseal requirements to be done. I took a drive the other day and there seems to be some temporary electrical work there. So, obviously, we’re waiting for some electrical work, and it does appear that some of the guardrails may be still missing here.
Can the Minister indicate to the House who is assuming legal responsibility for this road if there’s still work to be done? Thank you.
Thank you. A public highway is a public highway. Any public highway, once it’s officially opened, is the responsibility of DOT. It’s fairly standard practice to put down the base of the road and not put the chipseal immediately, and in this case there would be driving on it and when it is appropriate and the weather allows, then it will be chipsealed, but up until the chipseal is completed, the contract is still there, but legally, at the time it was opened it became a DOT asset. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, I just wanted to make sure that liability, if there was ever indeed an issue on this road, if we’re still waiting for pieces of pertinent parts of this road to be completed, that the taxpayers won’t be having any type of surprises in the near future. That leads me to my final question.
When can we expect a full assessment of this project being presented to this House of its total completion? Thank you.
Thank you. The chipsealing will be done this summer during the summer construction season. Once that is completed if there’s a request from committee for us to debrief committee on the contract, then the department is prepared to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Beaulieu. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
