My questions also are for the Minister of Transportation today.
I had a constituent who had occasion to drive to Hay River the other day and reminded me when she got here when she asked about the Kakisa River Bridge and the sign there that says, “Slow down; five kilometres per hour.”
We obviously have a very serious problem with the Kakisa River Bridge. Unfortunately, we don’t have an opportunity for an ice crossing or a ferry on that particular river. It needs to be fixed. It is a piece of Territorial transportation infrastructure that is obviously in disrepair. I’m worried about big trucks slowing down in a snowstorm to get down to that five kilometres per hour and the traffic behind them. It’s danger.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation: what is being done to address the problems at the Kakisa River Bridge?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Member for raising this issue.
Mr. Speaker, the Kakisa River Bridge is in dire need of being replaced, and it is being looked at. It is an old bridge that shows some deteriorating structures to it. It is in the plans to replace that bridge.
We are asking drivers to slow down when they come to the bridge. It may be annoying to them, but they need to slow down to be safe on that bridge. I, for one, am fearful that a terrible accident may be in the waiting. I’ve asked my department. My colleagues here are all aware that this bridge is in dire need to be replaced as soon as possible.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation: what’s wrong with the bridge? Should we be worried even driving across it at five kilometres per hour? What is exactly wrong with the bridge that requires people to slow down to five kilometres per hour?
I’m just waiting for you to finish your consultation there.
What’s wrong with the bridge? Why do we have to slow down to five kilometres? Should we be worried about driving on it at even five kilometres per hour? What kind of assurance can the Minister offer to the public? What’s wrong with the bridge?
Mr. Speaker, it’s a precautionary measure that we ask of all public members, to slow down because of structural damages to the bridge, that they slow down when they cross the bridge at the Kakisa River.
Mr. Speaker, we ask people to slow down. If they don’t slow down and something unfortunate, an incident, took place, how serious is the bridge? This is a precautionary measure, I understand. If a big truck went over it and didn’t slow down, what could happen?
Mr. Speaker, the question is on all our infrastructure systems, on roads in the North here.
We’re asking as a precautionary measure for vehicles to slow down because there’s some structural damage that we need to have replaced at the Kakisa Bridge. Like any other, it’s not a fail-safe bridge, so we’re asking members of the public to slow down when they cross the bridge.
Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
I’d like to ask the Minister: is he quite satisfied that the signage leading up to the bridge is adequate to communicate to people that they need to slow down? Has he seen the signage? Is it bright enough? Does it start back far enough? Is it sufficient?
Mr. Speaker, the bridge remains safe to the travelling public. The signage on the bridge is as much as we can do, and if we can, to do more. I’m satisfied that the signage that we have there, the message we have out for the public — to slow down when they cross the Kakisa Bridge — is there. We’ve been monitoring that traffic.
I myself have driven that road. I have crossed that bridge at five kilometres an hour. I myself am satisfied that all we can do now is up to the public to make wise choices, in terms of travelling all our roads in the N.W.T.
