Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to clear up what I believe is a misunderstanding about the priority of maintenance operations on different sections of the territorial highway system. The Department of Transportation has only one maintenance priority, and that is to keep the highway system in safe travelling condition. In every region and on every highway, the department's maintenance staff works to achieve the same goal of a safe highway system.
That being said, Mr. Speaker, maintenance routines and requirements do change from one part of the highway system to another. Geographic differences in physical terrain and seasonal weather patterns call for different kinds of maintenance treatment. More importantly, differences in traffic volumes create different maintenance standards. The Department of Transportation's Highway Maintenance Manual identifies five categories of maintenance standards based on traffic volumes.
- • Highway No. 3 between Rae-Edzo and Yellowknife is in maintenance category no. 2, with a traffic volume of between 250 and 500 vehicles a day.
- • The Dempster Highway between the Yukon border and the Tsiigehtchic River Crossing is a maintenance category no. 3 highway, with a traffic volume of between 150 and 250 vehicles a day.
- • With fewer than 80 vehicles a day, the Liard Highway between Nahanni Butte and the Junction with Highway No. 1 is in maintenance category no. 5.
For the reasons of terrain, climate and traffic, some sections of highway are much more difficult and expensive to maintain than others. Maintenance costs vary from a high of $21,300 per kilometre annually on the Dempster Highway through the Richardson Mountains, to a low of $3,100 per kilometre on Highway No. 1 between the N'dulee ferry crossing and Wrigley. The high cost of the Dempster is caused by high winds and drifting snow in the mountains. Highway No. 1 north of the N'dulee crossing has a low cost because it has very little traffic.
Among the most difficult and expensive sections to maintain is Highway No. 3 between Rae-Edzo and Yellowknife. This is for two reasons. First of all, this part of Highway No. 3 was built over muskeg and permafrost. Secondly, it carries the highest volume of rural traffic in the Northwest Territories' highway system. Other difficult sections of highway to maintain are all of Highway No. 6 from the Buffalo River Junction to Fort Resolution, Highway No. 1 from its junction with Highway No. 7 to Fort Simpson and the Ingraham Trail.
The department's maintenance crews all do their best to keep these sections of highway in safe travelling condition. The different sections of highway do not all have the same budget because they each need different types and amounts of maintenance work. The maintenance priority always remains the same: keeping the highways in a good, safe operation condition. Across the system, that cost can vary tremendously. Again, Mr. Speaker, the Dempster Highway near the Yukon border costs seven times more to maintain than the Mackenzie Highway north of the N'dulee crossing. Yet they are both kept in a safe condition. One costs a lot more than the other, and that is the only difference. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.