Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I spoke about conditions on the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure.
Mr. Speaker, I know that no matter how many signs you put on a winter road, especially up in the North in the Arctic, the chance of an accident are still very high. Mr. Speaker, my first question to the Minister is: what is the department's plan to improve signage and highway markings between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, our highway meets the national guidelines with respect to engineering, signage, and design posting limits along that highway. We've all had an opportunity and Cabinet has had a chance to drive it.
The further work that we're going to commit on signage going forward is there is going to be some information signage installed and some more delineators to add to driver comfort along the highway. We realize that this piece of highway is in one of the harshest conditions in Canada, or anywhere in the world, and people must have to drive accordingly through it. As the Member referred to the accident in his Member's statement, the RCMP are investigating that. They will determine what the causes were of that accident, and we'll have a look at it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the response from the Minister. It's good to see that work is going on to improve the highway. Mr. Speaker, my second question is: under what circumstances does the department issue public alerts on road conditions for the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway?
We have our web page where we continually update the highway conditions of the highways in the Northwest Territories. The department also uses Twitter on a lot of occasions, because I always re-tweet out what the department is putting out there, from waits on winter roads to closures of the Dempster and such.
On the Tuktoyaktuk to Inuvik Highway, I think a lot of people maybe even don't even realize they're driving by, because as the Member said, people don't pay attention to signage sometimes. At the beginning and at the end of both sections of the highway, there's a sign up there to say if the roads are open or closed.
It is good to see travellers using the website. I have noticed Facebook is probably the number one user-interface for road conditions. Mr. Speaker, I am talking about winter conditions, and my question is: what will the department do to improve the information it provides to road travellers about winter safety?
First of all, drivers must drive according to the conditions. The maximum speed is posted for optimum conditions, so if the highway is 100 kilometres per hour, that is for optimum conditions. If there is bad weather, well, then you have got to drive to those conditions. To ensure safety in the Northwest Territories, the highway system is a top priority of our department. We are always promoting safety as the number one thing. Driver education is one way that the department is working to communicate to residents in the Northwest Territories through advertising, enforcement, signage and such. Infrastructure has posted a new sign at the entrance of this highway, as well, to let residents know that they can go to the website to have a look at this stuff. We are continuing, as I have said, to update our web page and to use Twitter to do these things around road safety and guidelines.
Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the response. Mr. Speaker, my final question is: will the department increase the frequency of snow clearing on those sections of the highway that are subject to high winds during drifting snow? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
On this section of highway, we have a Government of the Northwest Territories employee and a maintenance contractor who inspect the highway twice a day to make sure the road is safe and cleared. If it is snowing or blizzardy and driving conditions are conditions that need to have the road closed, that will be informed and we will post that. There are protocols around highway maintenance of when the road needs to be plowed, and those are at the discretion of the maintenance contractor and the GNWT employee, and then they will follow up on that. For moving forward, being this is the very first year of this road operating in these conditions, I think the department is already looking at certain areas of difficulty that have snow drifting. They are going to have a look at what they can do for procedures to address that, be it snow fencing or some other means of something to help address that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
