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Topic: Ice roads
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'lance
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1064
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posted 11 August 2001 02:46 PM
This topic is not very political, at least not explicitly so.But from truck drivers in Edmonton I heard (to me) amazing stories of driving winter roads in NWT, which I was only vaguely aware of before. Imagine hauling fuel 650 km to a mine site, all but about 100 of it over ice, on which you can only drive 15-20 km/hr. Speed limits are strictly enforced. If you drive faster, you "crest your wave," and perhaps break through the ice. It's a strange way of making a living, and perhaps unique in all the world. I can't think of another northern region which has both so many lakes and so much development. But then, being told that on some lakes the ice no longer forms thick enough for perfect safety inspires a kind of horrified sadness. And, of course, driving these hundreds or thousands of diesel-burning vehicles contributes at least fractionally to the process by which the roads won't be driveable any more. Have any babblers driven truck up north, or otherwise experienced the ice roads?
From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001
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jabber
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 144
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posted 14 August 2001 05:44 PM
'lance, The small freight charter planes will love it. They already believe the government cost of maintaining the ice roads each winter would off-set the extra cost of air freight.One such service in NWO is Wasaya Air, owned by the First Nations. I'm not sure I would want to fly a fully loaded plan with fuel though. Right now Bob Nault (NIAD minister)wants to build permanent roads into remote communities to open up development and provide a more sustainable economic base for isolated communities. He needs provincial cooperation, something not easy to come by. Also if you look carefully at the map north of Pickle Lake there is a gravel road to basically nowhere. It was built by John Diefenbaker when he was in power. He had a grand plan to do what Nault is now talking about.
From: Dryden | Registered: Apr 2001
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oldgoat
Moderator
Babbler # 1130
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posted 28 August 2001 05:49 PM
If anyone is going to pick up this thread 14 days later, I'd like to mention that I've driven the ice road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk a number of times, and nobody was observing any speed limits. In the wider parts of the eastern channel, and when you turn along the north coast, it's really wide, and you can go flat out and do spins. (unless you hit a pressure ridge, and then your toast). I should add, I was definitly NOT driving a truck! Some of the trucks that supply the oil rigs out in the Beaufort Sea were just huge, but they weren't exactly going slow either.Higher speeds aren't really recommended going across the delta to Aklavik, because it's quite windey, and there's a bit more traffic. It is, however, one of the most pretty and scenic drives in Canada. [ August 28, 2001: Message edited by: oldgoat ]
From: The 10th circle | Registered: Jul 2001
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Québécois in the North
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 10727
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posted 15 January 2007 08:24 AM
Last years ice road season was astonishgly short. Last winter, indeed, was the NWT'S wharmest winter on record.In wekweeti the town was only accessible for three weeks. That means, the community ran out of things like flour and heating oil... kinda shitty. But the one thing that freaked the government out was that several hauls did not make it to the diamond mines and the exploitation cost soared. The mines had to rent a giant-sized russian helicopter to ship the material and oil. It soon became the talk of town. Since then, the NWT premier, Joe Handley, is talking about building an all-weather rooad to the mines. The remote communities representatives are flabbergasted and ask for roads to their town first. Nahendeh's MLA dubbed the all-wheater road project 'The Joe Highway'. That being said, this years ice road season is loooking much better than last year. As I write, most NWT ice roads are frozen and open to traffic.
From: Yellowknife | Registered: Oct 2005
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