Travellers can expect “minimal, if any,” delays on the Alaska and Robert Campbell highways, said assistant deputy minister of Transportation Allan Nixon.
Both highways reopened earlier this week after closing due to flooding and washouts last weekend.
Reconstruction of the Alaska Highway will begin once vehicles are rerouted from a one-lane gravel pioneer road over the washout area to a two-lane detour route.
The completion of the detour will not make much of a difference to commuters, Nixon said, but will help construction crews get to work on the highway
“I don’t know whether the term ‘pioneer’ is being fair to the guys that built it because it’s quite smooth and quite good, actually,” Nixon said.
Work continues on the South Canol Road. Nixon said they are hoping to have it open on the weekend.
Much remains to be done on the Nahanni Range Road, however, where work has only begun on three major washouts and a minor one.
The government is in the process of tendering a contract for the installation of some temporary bridges over the flooded areas. It could be several weeks before the road is open to traffic, Nixon said.
“It’s just a difficult area logistically to get to and you have to fix one washout before you can get to the next one, so you can’t do them all at once,” Nixon said.
The government is still calculating what they have spent on highway reconstruction so far in the wake of these record-breaking floods, and what remains to be spent.
“It will be in the millions, for sure,” Nixon said.
Contact Jacqueline Ronson at
jronson@yukon-news.com