Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you to the Minister for that answer. What concerns me is that the amount of money that is allocated to this road is disproportionate to the amount of use this road gets. Why does Highway No. 3 not get more money, considering that it holds 40 per cent of the territory's vehicle traffic? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This highway gets more money than any other highway in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This section of highway has 40 per cent of the traffic. Is it getting 40 per cent of the rebuilding money? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is not based on the amount of traffic; it is based on structural assessments, as I said, for all highways in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. How does the structure of this road compare to the other roads? I am trying to find a rationale for the volume of traffic, the condition it is in, and why it gets so little money compared to the overall highway budget. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Many Members in this House have heard me talk about permafrost degradation and the number of different scientific stations we have placed on this highway. This road is going to continue to settle probably for a number of years, and we are doing the best we can with the allocation of money we get from the federal government to maintain the highway system in the Northwest Territories. We have put significant resources into this road. I have been quoted as saying we could spend all of Infrastructure's DOT money on this section of highway, and we would still be behind the eight ball. We have to prioritize this money among roads across the whole Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do not know what evidence the Minister has, and I am interested in knowing that money will not make a difference to this road. That is not the information that I have. What evidence does he have that money will not make a difference? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The data we have on permafrost degradation indicates this road is continuing to settle and will probably be continuing to settle for the foreseeable future. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I read a small section of an engineer's report on the road, and I see that it says it is settling. Climate change is making a difference in the temperatures, and the permafrost is thawing, and so on and so on. Is there no way for the government to make strategic investments to improve this road? I mean, the road really is terrible by anyone's estimation. Even within the confines of the melting permafrost, is there nothing more that can be done? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If you look at the money that has been spent on this road since 2015 coming forward, the worst sections were tackled first, and we continue to work on them as we come forward. 2017-2018 and 2018-2017 involves addressing the latest sections that have the most difficult situations with them, and we will continue to invest in this highway to make it as safe as possible for residents in the Northwest Territories. As I have said, there are a number of considerations put into place, but it is a structural assessments of all highways in the Northwest Territories and the amount of money that we have allocated to this department to address the needs across the broader Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand what the Minister is saying. I want to move on to managing expectations. That seems to be one of the major issues with this road. There is no write-up about it in Spectacular NWT. There is nothing that prepares the driver for the condition of this road until they are driving this road. Is there something more the Minister can do to communicate the condition of the road to the people who are using it who are coming to the road for the first time? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do not think any jurisdiction in Canada is going to go out there and publicize in their tourism information pamphlets the condition of their highways across this country. What is posted is the speed limits, and that is what is posted along the highway. It is based on the condition of the highway for safe-travelling public to travel on this section of highway, and that is what we will continue to do. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that the Minister does not want to advertise that the road is in terrible condition, but what if, in addition to the speed limits, there was some sort of information about permafrost degradation, like a sign in a roadside pull-out that explained what was going on with the road so that people had some understanding of why the road is a roller coaster? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can take that back to my officials and have a look at that. Maybe we can look at at least posting it on our web site and get that type of information out there. We will have that under advisement. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Minister's willingness to take it back to his department. I think that we know that climate change is real in the North. This is an example of how real it is, and I think it would be informative for motorists to know that this is what climate change looks like.
My last area is about operations and maintenance money for the new roads, the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway and the Whati road. Are those costs factored into the road? We are saying we need $67 million for the road to Whati. Does that include maintenance money, or is there a segment of the budget that does include that? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister. One minute left.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The $67 million is part of the capital costs for constructing the Whati road. For O and M maintenance, that will be built into the O and M budgets. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
What I want to understand is whether the O and M and the additional capital costs of repairs are built into the total costs of this road right from now. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If we are talking about the Whati road, that is built in with the P3 project. They are responsible for that road for the next 25 years. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green, nothing further? Thank you, Ms. Green. Next, I have Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my first question is an indication that the estimated completion date of Highway No. 6 will be this fiscal year 2018-2019. Is that still the case? Does the Minister anticipate any issues with that completion date?
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Highway No. 6 will be completed in 2018-2019. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, on the bridge rehabilitation and replacement, BCP, bundle number 2 various, has the rehab and replacement to be completed in 2022. I am assuming that the one on Big Buffalo River will be completed soon as they are working on it. What is the schedule for the Hay River and Frank Channel bridges?
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Member is right. The Buffalo River bridge is almost completed. The tender for the Hay River bridge will be coming out shortly for its procurement for the rehabilitation of that bridge. Frank Channel bridge has been deferred. We are thinking about having another look at that after we went out to public consultation, and there were a number of concerns about us rehabilitating that bridge and having a full canopy on it as the way it is right now; it is a bottleneck of the whole system of anything coming north of Yellowknife, and we are having another look at it. I think we are going to be looking at doing some work to stretch that out for another five years, and see if we can figure out if we can get some money through the new infrastructure pots of money to possibly put a new bridge there. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I know it is probably pretty early to get into procurement at this point on the Frank Channel bridge, but I would like to ask the Minister if there would be any consideration given to building the Frank Channel bridge in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's probably a fairly technical challenge to do that up in the Northwest Territories, but all I can say is, once we have the engineering done and the design of it, we can have a look at what the challenges and possibilities of doing that in the Northwest Territories are. I think that would cause a significant challenge for some contractor to be able to fulfil that in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I have no further questions for the Minister. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
