Thank you, Deputy Minister Neudorf. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Just with the resources available for Highway No. 1, of course it includes the section between Fort Simpson and Wrigley, and most particularly, from the N’Dulee ferry towards the Willow River Bridge, that particular section never really recovered from all the trucks that were on that road when they were doing the Enbridge Pipeline’s recovery operations. I drove it a couple times this fall already and it really needs some work. I know that there was some planned work for this fall. I’m not too sure what was

done, and I know that I’ve seen the

engineers on that road inspecting it, so I just wanted to know if some of his recommendations and, of course, the concerns of the Wrigley residents is how much work will be done on that section of the highway.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The section of highway between Fort Simpson and Wrigley we are going to continue to maintain with using our maintenance money. That is a very low volume highway as far as vehicles and that go and we’re not planning on putting a lot of capital or any capital at this time onto that highway. We’re trying to concentrate our capital on the highways that have higher traffic volumes. At this point, we’re going to do the best we can with the maintenance budget to try to maintain that road in the best driving condition that we can maintain it to.

In the capital that is one area that we are working where we are working on Shale Creek Bridge. We’re sealing the deck and doing some bearing repairs on the deck, and then we’re also rehabbing the timber on the deck of Smith Creek. We may have been on that one when they were rehabbing that one. They’ll be doing more work similar

to that bridge that we had crossed. We’ll be

doing work on those two bridges. I don’t know exactly where they are, but I just have the kilometres. I suppose you know Shale Creek and Smith Creek is where we will be rehabbing the bridges.

I think the Minister was talking about some of the bridges on the winter road section which kind of leads towards the Mackenzie Valley Highway Project to the north of Wrigley. I know that when the Minister came with me and we spoke with the Wrigley delegation, that was one of their asks, was can we start doing a small, mini program of highway development past the community of Wrigley, in terms of piecemealing the eventuality of a Mackenzie Valley Highway up the Mackenzie Valley. Just with those thoughts, any work that has been done by the department with respect to that other than the geotech work that was done.

That would be a great piece of work and a great project, no question about it. It would be a big part of the Mackenzie Valley Highway if that was to be built. The community had a very, very good plan. They are in support of the Mackenzie Valley highway and it was important for them to get to the first gravel access. They had indicated to us that it was about 30 kilometres of fairly flat territory that was good ground except for two short areas, two small spots, actually, as they put it on the road where they thought there were some swamps. Aside from that, they thought it was a very easy project to do, and we would support that type of a project as part of the Mackenzie Valley highway. It’s right on the

Mackenzie Valley right-of-

way, and that’s something

we’d love to work towards with the community on the Deh Cho part of the Mackenzie Valley highway.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Committee, we’re on page 84, highways, infrastructure investments, $69.340 million. Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This will probably be my last opportunity to talk about Highway No. 3. I know Mr. Menicoche thought I was going to say Highway No. 7 but, sorry. Highway No. 3. We know this is a multi-year project. I believe this is part of a bundle that was being funded here through one of the Building Canada Plan projects. But to get a bit more perspective, what should we expect? What is the budget in terms of the completion? Is there a certain target on Highway No. 3 that we’re going to try to complete for this capital budget?

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We’re scheduled for this budget embankment improvements, kilometre 275 to 278, from 279 to 280, involving straightening and surface prep; drainage improvements and install culverts at kilometre 275, 276, 277, 279, and 279.6; crushing aggregate production at kilometre 285; chipseal kilometre 275 to 278 and 279 to 280.

I appreciate the details there. When I’m hearing kilometre 275 to 278 and so forth, I’m assuming these are the kilometres between here and Behchoko. I believe we’re starting from kilometre 0, which I believe is Fort Providence. Is that my understanding? Or south of that?

The kilometre 0 is at the highway that turns off Fort Simpson on the other side of the Deh Cho Bridge, and Providence is about 31 kilometres, and then Yellowknife is at 339, and Behchoko 245. This is some of the highway where we had the speed at 90 between here and Behchoko. We’re fixing areas there that are troublesome.

Thank you, Minister Beaulieu. Yes, Behchoko is at 245. Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for your wisdom there. Thank you very much. I guess when we’re talking about sections of the road, I think it’s important for us to make sure that we’re describing the right sections. People looking back at transcripts are trying to figure out what exactly does this mean. I think anyone would not disagree that the 100 kilometre stretch between here and Behchoko is probably one of the most difficult sections of highway probably in the Northwest Territories and probably one of the most well-travelled ones in the Northwest Territories, so any improvements in that 100 kilometre

stretch

would

definitely

be

an

improvement. I know the Member for Monfwi is probably agreeing with me.

We heard about a multi-year investment, and again, we’re doing sections at a time in terms of improvements, embankment improvements and drainage improvements, but I think the public really needs to know at what point in time can we safely say that that stretch of road between Yellowknife and Behchoko would be completely redone, resurfaced and, as I like to put it, as smooth as we can. Thank you.

This is part of bundle number one, the first four years of reconstruction on Highway No. 3. The plans that I talked about just previously was this fiscal year and also in bundle three it closes the gap and it finishes off the rest of the bundle and this would mean that there would be six more years of this type of construction on Highway No. 3 between here and Behchoko.

I will have to decipher that coded message. I guess the question I have is within the four-year bundle cycle that we hear, so from kilometre 245 to kilometre 339, would we assume that between those two numbers that the complete stretch will be resurfaced and reconditioned and rehabilitated to a road that is not what we see today? Thank you.

We will not be able to do the entire highway with the four-year money that we have in the first bundle, number one from the Building Canada Plan. We will be working on, of course, the worst areas, so the highway will be improving overall every year. What the four-year mon

ey won’t be doing is the entire highway.

So it is safe to say that we have roughly 100 kilometres that we are talking about and over the four-year stretch, how many kilometres are anticipated to be rehabilitated, resurfaced and brought to a so-called standard as we are doing it in a piecemeal approach? Is it 40 of those kilometres, 50 of those kilometres? I’d like to get an understanding. What is the target of the department after this four-year bundle? Thank you.

Not the entire 100 kilometres has dips in it. Some parts of the highway are straight and we are not going to be working on that, but with the four-year money we will be doing about 20 kilometres total where we will be taking the dips, only in Highway No. 3, out. Also, each year we also have maintenance and we do regular maintenance on that road. So as we reconstruct with the Building Canada Plan money, we are also maintaining those sections, as well, so the rest of the 100 kilometres to make sure that it remains a good surface that we are going to bring to these areas to a state that we are bringing these areas to. Thank you.

I appreciate the Minister sharing those numbers, and thanks for the information. No further questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Next I have Mr. Hawkins.