Mackenzie Valley Highway project to get $102M boost from federal gov't

The federal government has announced it is investing $102.5 million in the Northwest Territories'Mackenzie Valley Highway project, aimed to construct a bridge over the Great Bear River as well asan all-weather road.

The money is expected to support the construction of a bridge over Great Bear River, near Tulita, construction of a 15-kilometre all-weather road from Wrigleynorth to Mount Gaudet, and environmental and planning studies for the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

The announcement was made Wednesday morning in a ceremony at Yellowknife's Legislative Assembly. At the announcement, the government prominently displayed a photo of the late Cece Hodgson-McCauley the former chief of the Inuvik Dene Band and an influential newspaper columnist who was a fierce advocate for the construction of the highway.

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Cece's son Todd McCauley, who was at the announcement, saidthat his late mother "would be glad to see progress being made, absolutely."

"She would probably want the whole highway to be built," he said. "But little movements are better than no movements, and I think this is exciting."

The studies are expected to help "inform"the highway's final route and design, and lead to construction permits to build the road, according to a news release issued by the federal government.

The federal governmentsaidtheN.W.T. government is contributing $37.5 million, bringing the total investment announced Wednesday to $140 million.

The federal government is projecting the highway will create 400 jobs, which was music to the ears of Danny Gaudet, the former chief negotiator of the self-government agreement for the community of Deline.

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"When the oil and gas industry died, I see the people struggle in the communities," said Gaudet. "[Trying] to just get basic food, basic rents paid. And announcements like this kind of give a boost to this idea that we're going to get back to work here."

If complete, the Mackenzie Valley Highway would run north from Wrigley before connecting to the DempsterHighway, connecting a number of communities in the region to the territory's highway network.