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Regional Boards => Canada => Topic started by: Kniwt on November 10, 2010, 02:13:33 AM

Title: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Kniwt on November 10, 2010, 02:13:33 AM
Nunatsiaq News, based in Iqaluit, reports (http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/98789_manitoba_nunavut_to_study_all-weather_road_along_hudson_bay/) that a cost-benefit study has been approved for a year-round road from Gillam, Manitoba, along the Hudson Bay coast to Rankin Inlet, Nunavut.
QuoteMany believe it is needed to connect isolated northern communities to the south to ease the transportation of food, building materials and other goods, such as equipment used in mining, as shorter winters render winter roads almost useless.

Others fear a road will only increase human access to fragile wilderness areas.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Roadgeek Adam on November 10, 2010, 06:06:02 AM
At this point, this would make it easier to just extend Manitoba Provincial Road 290 from its terminus in the abandoned Sundance, Manitoba. Take that road from Road 280's fork just east of Gillam. The road could then go through each community and keep its one designation.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: agentsteel53 on November 10, 2010, 11:25:47 AM
when that road comes into service, I intend to drive it!
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Alps on November 10, 2010, 07:30:25 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on November 10, 2010, 11:25:47 AM
when that road comes into service, I intend to drive it!
By that time Nunavut will be my last province, so I'll join you.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: agentsteel53 on November 10, 2010, 09:02:06 PM
Quote from: AlpsROADS on November 10, 2010, 07:30:25 PM


By that time Nunavut will be my last province, so I'll join you.
when did you go to/are you planning on going to NWT?  Or does that not count because it's a territory, not a province?

I've stepped into Nunavut.  As the boundary at James Bay, Quebec is the shoreline, any and all wading is into a new province.  But I still need to drive in.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Bickendan on November 11, 2010, 02:09:16 AM
Let me know when you're going. You'll need a navigator backseat driver human GPS hmm, I got nothin'.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Alps on November 11, 2010, 11:29:55 PM
NWT is part of my upcoming trip out to Victoria or Fairbanks, starting in Thunder Bay or Duluth.  (Still have to figure out where I'm allowed to bring a rental car).  I plan on doing a nice drive up to check out bridge construction up deep in NWT.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Scott5114 on November 12, 2010, 12:04:07 AM
If you take it somewhere you "shouldn't", how would they know?
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: agentsteel53 on November 12, 2010, 12:04:26 AM
Quote from: AlpsROADS on November 11, 2010, 11:29:55 PM(Still have to figure out where I'm allowed to bring a rental car)

blanket permission to drive to Canada should be available at any airport rental facility.  But check in advance.  Oddly, Canadian citizens are not allowed to rent a car and drive to Canada, but citizens of every other country are.  Weird rental car company policy.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: agentsteel53 on November 12, 2010, 12:05:26 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on November 12, 2010, 12:04:07 AM
If you take it somewhere you "shouldn't", how would they know?

some of the shadier companies install GPSes into their rental cars.

even if not, in case you get into an accident, insurance companies will suddenly be extremely unwilling to pay out a claim if you were found in violation of your contract.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: corco on November 12, 2010, 01:33:17 AM
Quoteeven if not, in case you get into an accident, insurance companies will suddenly be extremely unwilling to pay out a claim if you were found in violation of your contract.

And if somebody runs into you and it's not your fault, your rental car company will have a cow if you're out of jurisdiction
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: agentsteel53 on November 12, 2010, 10:30:44 AM
Quote from: corco on November 12, 2010, 01:33:17 AM

And if somebody runs into you and it's not your fault, your rental car company will have a cow if you're out of jurisdiction

yep.

I make runs to southern Utah and Oregon all the time with a car that is permitted only for California, Arizona, and Nevada.  I also drive on dirt roads.  Each time, I'm basically crossing my fingers!
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Alps on November 13, 2010, 08:44:36 AM
In my case it's obvious from the start and end points.  If I start in either location and end in Fairbanks, now they have a rental car in Alaska.  That's usually not very desirable.  If I start in Duluth and end in Victoria, now they have an American rental car in Canada.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: agentsteel53 on November 13, 2010, 08:48:52 AM
Quote from: AlpsROADS on November 13, 2010, 08:44:36 AM
In my case it's obvious from the start and end points.  If I start in either location and end in Fairbanks, now they have a rental car in Alaska.  That's usually not very desirable.  If I start in Duluth and end in Victoria, now they have an American rental car in Canada.

no no, I mean a Canadian citizen is not even allowed to bring the car into Canada and then return it to the US where it was originally rented from.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: corco on November 13, 2010, 12:09:29 PM
QuoteIn my case it's obvious from the start and end points.  If I start in either location and end in Fairbanks, now they have a rental car in Alaska.  That's usually not very desirable.  If I start in Duluth and end in Victoria, now they have an American rental car in Canada.

If you did Victoria, couldn't you just take the extra 5 hours or so to drive to Seatac? If you don't want to double back, you could take the Black Ball line to Port Angeles and then drive to the airport via the Kitsap Peninsula and whichever ferry you like
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: J N Winkler on November 13, 2010, 12:25:00 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on November 13, 2010, 08:48:52 AMno no, I mean a Canadian citizen is not even allowed to bring the car into Canada and then return it to the US where it was originally rented from.

What is the rationale for this policy?
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: SP Cook on November 13, 2010, 12:32:43 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on November 13, 2010, 08:48:52 AM
no no, I mean a Canadian citizen is not even allowed to bring the car into Canada and then return it to the US where it was originally rented from.

Really?  Say a person lives in Vancouver and wants to visit his relatives in Windsor.  You are telling me they could not fly into Detroit and rent a car?

Is this to keep people living near the border from renting at (I assume) lower US rates?
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Kniwt on April 04, 2011, 10:10:19 PM
The proposed road is the subject of an article in Tuesday's Globe and Mail:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/nunavut/have-road-will-travel-rural-nunavut-hopes-for-a-way-out/article1970759/

Quote"Wherever this road goes we would hope to see a lower cost of living and the construction of a healthy society,"  said Luis Manzo, director of lands for the Kivalliq Inuit Association, which advocates for Inuit in the region.

Current plans also allow for a hydro right-of-way parallel to the highway, perhaps allowing northern hamlets to kill their expensive diesel generators and plug into a hydro grid for the first time.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Bickendan on April 05, 2011, 01:54:35 AM
Sooner they build this, the sooner I'll get the routes up for clinching at CHM!
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Dr Frankenstein on April 05, 2011, 12:37:07 PM
Quote from: Bickendan on April 05, 2011, 01:54:35 AM
Sooner they build this, the sooner I'll get the routes up for clinching at CHM!
If only they could finish the provincial routes first. ;D
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Bickendan on April 05, 2011, 02:00:14 PM
The first provincial set's done, I'm just waiting on the paperwork to be processed ;)
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Kniwt on November 27, 2012, 01:13:10 PM
Reviving a dead topic with an update that, although a route has been selected (map at the link), the road is "in a holding pattern" and wouldn't be done for "at least 20 years."

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut-manitoba_road_in_a_holding_position_manitoba_official/

QuoteA preferred route has been selected for the road, said Richard Danis, director of transportation policy and service development for Manitoba, in his presentation at last week's Kivalliq Trade Show in Rankin Inlet.

... "No new work is under way,"  Danis said in his update of where progress on the road stands.

... The earliest time you'll see that road built is at least 20 years from now, although Danis said there has been talk about building a winter road as an interim measure.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: oscar on November 27, 2012, 05:27:33 PM
While this dead topic's alive again, I'll mention that there is an ice road (privately-operated, but apparently open to the general public with restrictions, including mandatory training), from Tibbitt Lake northeast of Yellowknife NT extending north into Nunavut.  This is one of the roads featured in "Ice Road Truckers".  For a map and some other info, see:

http://www.jvtcwinterroad.ca/jvwr/material%20combined/Y22100009-009_TCWR-Poster-updated-2006-info.pdf

See also this sign, at the road's entrance off NT 4, which I took in July of this year (the road status part of the sign is obviously a few months out of date):

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alaskaroads.com%2Fcontwoyto-winter-rd-entrrance-large_DSC1125.jpg&hash=39a623fc9bbb3ed417d9c2e380fe228b76de2f1d)

Might be worth checking out, for those who are really, really impatient to drive into Nunavut, and don't mind driving in the cold and short days of Arctic winter.  (Not for me -- while Nunavut's on my bucket list, what I have in mind is a summer trip involving some really expensive plane tickets.)
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Alps on November 27, 2012, 05:39:51 PM
Quote from: Kniwt on November 27, 2012, 01:13:10 PM
Reviving a dead topic with an update that, although a route has been selected (map at the link), the road is "in a holding pattern" and wouldn't be done for "at least 20 years."

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut-manitoba_road_in_a_holding_position_manitoba_official/

QuoteA preferred route has been selected for the road, said Richard Danis, director of transportation policy and service development for Manitoba, in his presentation at last week's Kivalliq Trade Show in Rankin Inlet.

... "No new work is under way,"  Danis said in his update of where progress on the road stands.

... The earliest time you'll see that road built is at least 20 years from now, although Danis said there has been talk about building a winter road as an interim measure.
Hey Jake, I'm still up for it in 20 years if you are.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: vdeane on November 28, 2012, 11:47:27 AM
Quote from: oscar on November 27, 2012, 05:27:33 PM
While this dead topic's alive again, I'll mention that there is an ice road (privately-operated, but apparently open to the general public with restrictions, including mandatory training), from Tibbit Lake northeast of Yellowknife NT extending north into Nunavut.  This is one of the roads featured in "Ice Road Truckers".  For a map and some other info, see:

http://www.jvtcwinterroad.ca/jvwr/material%20combined/Y22100009-009_TCWR-Poster-updated-2006-info.pdf

See also this sign, at the road's entrance off NT 4, which I took in July of this year (the road status part of the sign is obviously a few months out of date):

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alaskaroads.com%2Fcontwoyto-winter-rd-entrrance-large_DSC1125.jpg&hash=39a623fc9bbb3ed417d9c2e380fe228b76de2f1d)

Might be worth checking out, for those who are really, really impatient to drive into Nunavut, and don't mind driving in the cold and short days of Arctic winter.  (Not for me -- while Nunavut's on my bucket list, what I have in mind is a summer trip involving some really expensive plane tickets.)
That looks dangerous.  What if that sign is up when there's ice, but not enough to drive on?  A driver would have no way to know.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Brandon on November 28, 2012, 07:02:22 PM
Quote from: deanej on November 28, 2012, 11:47:27 AM
Quote from: oscar on November 27, 2012, 05:27:33 PM
While this dead topic's alive again, I'll mention that there is an ice road (privately-operated, but apparently open to the general public with restrictions, including mandatory training), from Tibbit Lake northeast of Yellowknife NT extending north into Nunavut.  This is one of the roads featured in "Ice Road Truckers".  For a map and some other info, see:

http://www.jvtcwinterroad.ca/jvwr/material%20combined/Y22100009-009_TCWR-Poster-updated-2006-info.pdf

See also this sign, at the road's entrance off NT 4, which I took in July of this year (the road status part of the sign is obviously a few months out of date):

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alaskaroads.com%2Fcontwoyto-winter-rd-entrrance-large_DSC1125.jpg&hash=39a623fc9bbb3ed417d9c2e380fe228b76de2f1d)

Might be worth checking out, for those who are really, really impatient to drive into Nunavut, and don't mind driving in the cold and short days of Arctic winter.  (Not for me -- while Nunavut's on my bucket list, what I have in mind is a summer trip involving some really expensive plane tickets.)
That looks dangerous.  What if that sign is up when there's ice, but not enough to drive on?  A driver would have no way to know.

During the winter, if you watch some of Ice Road Truckers, you'll see that the local authority there will cover the open sign with a closed sign if the ice is not thick enough yet.  They also physically open and close the road at the start and end of the season.  My guess is that there is no point to a closed sign during the summer for the obvious reason.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: vdeane on November 29, 2012, 11:28:19 AM
You'd think closed would be the default though... then you'd just need to put the open sign up when it's open and not have to worry about removing the closed sign when it's summer, and putting it back in time that nobody falls through thin ice.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Transportfan on November 30, 2012, 11:53:21 AM
The ice road is checked often to make sure it's safe.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: vdeane on December 01, 2012, 12:35:06 PM
But still, you'd think they'd rather change the sign only twice rather than FOUR TIMES.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: oscar on December 01, 2012, 01:18:57 PM
Quote from: deanej on December 01, 2012, 12:35:06 PM
But still, you'd think they'd rather change the sign only twice rather than FOUR TIMES.

Possible that the OPEN sign is covered by a CLOSED sign at the end of the season, with the intention of leaving CLOSED up all summer, only some prankster made off with the CLOSED sign in the meantime.  The private venture operating the road in the winter might basically go into hibernation in the summer, and not routinely check the winter road entrance about 70km northeast of Yellowknife.  But so long as they resume their checks by the time the lake starts icing over (when the venture needs to start getting the road ready, anyway), and continue them until the lake liquifies again in the spring, no real problem besides giving people a chuckle.

Still, if they ever need to redo the entrance sign, I agree it would make sense to make CLOSED the default, and cover it with an OPEN overlay in-season, when the venture's security patrols are keeping an eye on the road and its entrance sign.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: vdeane on December 02, 2012, 01:54:10 PM
Quote from: oscar on December 01, 2012, 01:18:57 PM
Still, if they ever need to redo the entrance sign, I agree it would make sense to make CLOSED the default, and cover it with an OPEN overlay in-season, when the venture's security patrols are keeping an eye on the road and its entrance sign.
I'm now wondering if the reason they didn't do that is because of winter storms.  Could those be an issue with having a temporary sign when the road is open?
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Molandfreak on January 07, 2014, 04:00:27 AM
Below quote from this recent article: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/follow-the-dream-road-to-nunavut-236513751.html

Quote
According to CBC, a 2012 case study found a road from Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, to Sundance, Man., would generate less than half the financial payback of its $1.2-billion price tag.

Moreover, although proponents assert the road would pass by 20-plus mineral exploration projects, the viability of those ventures has not been conclusively demonstrated.

...

Still, the Manitoba-Nunavut highway is especially debatable because of its 10-figure tab.

The gap between Rankin Inlet and Sundance is a vast expanse of Canadian Shield lakes and nothingness. Perusing it on a map, one can't help but imagine what a protracted, lonely drive this would be.

The 1,100-kilometre highway would connect communities whose combined population is fewer than 10,000 people.

By that math, the road would cost more than $120,000 per direct beneficiary.

However, such a stringent calculation does not factor in (rapid) population growth, nor the potential for the highway as a foundation for future roads connecting other communities.

...

In the movie industry, there's a name for what's happening to the Manitoba-Nunavut highway: development hell. It's where a project is discussed year after year without ever getting off the ground.

If by some miracle Nunavut, Manitoba and Ottawa approved funding tomorrow, the road would take an estimated 15 years to complete.

By then, how much more populated will the almost entirely road-less Nunavut, the second-fastest growing province or territory in Canada, be?
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Kniwt on November 03, 2014, 12:34:22 PM
Bumping the topic with this new update from Nunatsiaq News in Iqaluit:
http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674gn_renews_commitment_to_manitoba_road_and_hydropower_link/

QuoteLong-standing hopes to create road and hydropower links between Nunavut's Kivalliq region and Manitoba took a step closer to reality this fall at a meeting of Hudson Bay regional governments, according to George Kuksuk, Nunavut's minister of economic development and transportation.

... His department agreed to demands by mayors of the Kivalliq region to set up a "working group"  to study the feasibility of a road link between the Kivalliq's southern-most communities and Churchill, Manitoba.

The roundtable's proposed road would extend from Churchill to Arviat, Whale Cove and Rankin Inlet.
Title: Re: Manitoba-Nunavut road study moves forward
Post by: Duke87 on November 03, 2014, 07:26:58 PM
This article describes the southern end of the road as Churchill rather than Sundance. If so the road will NOT connect to the rest of the North American highway network and it will still not be possible to drive to Nunavut without using some other mode of transportation on the way.

This probably does shave considerably off the cost, though, and there are train tracks running to Churchill, so for freight it would function just fine.

Also, seems another benefit would be the construction of power lines along the route, dropping electricity prices in southern Nunavut. The road would then be needed to service those lines.