Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, over the last year the community received enough funds to purchase a bridge to put in place at Willow River.
Will the Minister work with the community to ensure funds are available and the bridge is in working order this year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we have been working with the community. We approved a substantial chunk of the Access Program money for the purchase of a bridge that will span the Willow River, and now we are reviewing a proposal for an ATV trail and also a proposal for the insulation of the bridge. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, a portion of the trail that’s being put forward is a route through the biggest road, which is the route to the Willow River. This road has been eroded over the last number of years and we need to haul in the material that’s required, which is RipWrap, to secure the stability of the road.
So, will the Minister provide funds to complete this work? Thank you.
Mahsi cho. We have supported the road recently and we, at one time, had requested infrastructure stimulus funding through the federal government. Unfortunately, that was denied. We recognize that the community needs that road. It’s got huge benefits to the community as it would ultimately run to a gravel source. The full cost of that road to make it accessible for hauling would be $90 million. It’s fairly substantial. So we recognize that we may have to go outside of just a simple Access Roads Program in order to continue to fund this and produce that road in a decent time.
So, as I indicated, we will continue to work with the community in an attempt to build that road. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
