Frank Channel Bridge replacement expected to be complete 9 years after first announced
CBC
Construction on the long-awaited replacement of the Frank Channel Bridge near Behchokǫ, N.W.T., is beginning this week and is expected to create a new bigger bridge to support large trucks and improve safety.
The $120.7 million project is expected to open to traffic by fall 2027.
Originally built in 1960, the Frank Channel Bridge is part of Highway 3, the only roadway that links the North Slave region to the rest of Canada. The highway serves as the gateway to the ice road serving the N.W.T.'s diamond mines.
It's also the only roadway connecting the Behchokǫ neighbourhoods of Rae and Edzo, and is used to transport goods into the community.
Residents have noted potholes and rust and in 2018, the territory announced initial plans to replace it.
In a news release Friday, the government of the Northwest Territories said crews are starting to set up camp and gather equipment.
The new bridge will be about 200-metres long with lanes in each direction and a separate path for pedestrians and cyclists.
It will be built just north of the existing bridge — at kilometre 243.8 on Highway 3. After the new bridge opens to traffic in fall 2027, the existing one will be removed by fall 2028, a spokesperson wrote in Friday’s news release.
In 2021, the federal and territorial government announced a combined $50 million to replace the bridge. They said construction would start in 2022 and be complete by 2024.
In 2023, then-infrastructure minister Diane Archie said the project was held up by funding shortfalls as inflation raised the cost of construction.
The territory has awarded the contract to the Tłı̨chǫ–Kiewit General Partnership, which also built the Tłı̨chǫ Highway that connects Whatı̀ to Highway 3. The federal government is contributing $52.5 million to the $120.7 million contract through the national trade corridors fund, intended to invest in critical transportation across the country.
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