Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll make this question brief. I’ve raised in this House before issues about the road, the highway that’s operated by the GNWT Department of Transportation that runs south of Hay River to Enterprise, in the Minister’s riding. For the record, could the Minister please update us on what his department has done about the erosion taking place beside the highway so that people in Hay River and Enterprise who travel that highway and others don’t need to worry about falling over the cliff into the abyss?
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We did take note of the concerns raised by the Member regarding the erosion that’s taken place on Highway No. 2. We have put in some money in our budget to deal with the situation and we will be doing work on it this coming summer.
I’d like to ask the Minister if he could describe what the nature of that work would be.
No, I’m not an engineer so I couldn’t really tell the exact type of work that will be done. With discussion with my staff, they’ve indicated that we’d deal with the safety issue and we’d try to curb the erosion that’s happening there. As to what exactly is being planned, I’d have to commit to getting back with the details to the Member.
I would assume that little portion of the highway there would be rerouted or moved so that it’s not so close to the edge of the riverbank. When does the Minister anticipate... I mean, this is February, it’s almost spring. When would the tender be going out for this repair?
I don’t believe we’re planning to realign the highway at this point right now. My understanding, and I’d have to confirm that, is we’d be looking at types of guardrails and maybe some riprap or things of that nature that would curb the erosion and try to deal with the safety issue that’s happening there.
This has been an issue that’s been ongoing for quite a few years. My staff have informed me I think as far back as 20 years ago there was a concern in that area that there was erosion. It’s continuing to be a bigger concern, but right now to try to deal with it and prevent it from causing any harm to the travelling public would be our first and foremost concern. I can find the actual type of work and the time frame that it’s going to be done in. That it’s proposed for this coming summer is all I know at this point.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s unfortunate because I did think it was going to be a road realignment. That’s the word I was missing was “realignment.” Because there already is a guardrail there, actually. Here’s the edge of the road and here’s the drop-off to the riverbank. I mean, it’s impossible. What would you set any kind of... How could you shore that up? It’s like a sheer drop down of a hundred feet. I don’t know how you could possibly shore something like that up. I will ask the Minister if he will provide me with the details as soon as he has them on what the solution to this what I consider dangerous situation is and a tremendous liability to this government.
The Member has reinforced the fact that she’s very concerned about this erosion that’s happening on Highway No. 2. We’ve had our staff look at it. We’ve been monitoring the situation for quite a few years. We have other situations where there are sheer drop-offs. We have guardrails. We have guardrails on our bridges. At this point we want to ensure that it’s flagged. We will start looking at whether realignment is warranted.
I have not been informed by any of the experts that have looked at it that it’s needed right at this point, at this time, but it’s something that we will consider. We will provide the details of what we’re doing to remedy the situation to the Member and we can further discuss issues that she’s bringing forward.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
