Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, Mr. Speaker, I would like to break with tradition and delight this House with a good news story. Mr. Speaker, the good news I am referring to is the recent completion of the new West Channel Bridge in Hay River.
Mr. Speaker, this was an endeavour undertaken by the Department of Transportation. There was an official opening of the bridge on Saturday, August 12th in Hay River. I would like to thank the Minister of Transportation, the Honourable Vince Steen, for attending the bridge opening. It was an important and well attended event in Hay River.
Mr. Speaker, this was a very large undertaking by the Department of Transportation. The original West Channel Bridge was erected in 1963. The old bridge was not able to accommodate large loads as it had vertical and height restrictions. It also had no provision for pedestrians and cyclists and presented a large safety hazard for those people.
Mr. Speaker, the new bridge is approximately 120 metres long, and has two lanes for traffic, and a wide walk-way for pedestrian traffic. It can accommodate all loads as it has no height restrictions, due to the fact that it has an open deck. The new bridge is expected to accommodate 46 million vehicle trips over the next 50 years, and is a very welcome piece of infrastructure for Hay River, the transportation hub of the North.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out that several Hay River and northern contractors were utilized for this project. Some examples of these are: Stan Dean and Sons, Rowe's Construction, Northland Utilities and Rail Link Canada, all from Hay River; Nahanni Construction and Jivkov Engineering of Yellowknife, to name a few.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the staff of the Department of Transportation as the project was completed on schedule and well within the budget allotted. The entire bridge design and earth works were done in-house by the department personnel at a terrific cost savings to taxpayers.
Mr. Speaker, in these times of fiscal restraint, I would like to point out that this badly needed replacement of infrastructure in Hay River came in at $1.14 million under budget. It is unfortunate that these monies were transferred to a different region after the bridge was erected, but alas, I did say that this was a good news story. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause