Success of Tłı̨chǫ Highway based on relationships built
CBC
Building the newly opened 97-kilometre Tłı̨chǫ Highway was an engineering challenge, but if you ask project manager Bruno Pigeon, the success of the project was built on relationships.
The Tłı̨chǫ Government, the government of the Northwest Territories and the company Pigeon works for, Kiewit Canada Development Corp., teamed up and created the Tłı̨chǫ-Kiewit general partnership to build the road that connects Whatì, N.W.T., to the territory's Highway 3.
Pigeon said that changed the spirit of the project from a place where they had to hire local people to a place where they wanted to hire local people.
"It was the right thing to do. And there's a lot of highly talented individuals, really good workers, but mainly really good people that we met," said Pigeon.
One example was Wes Pellisey, a member of the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation in Wrigley and owner of the contracting company Brave Adventures. Pigeon said Pellisey helped his team understand the scope of work to be done.
"He knows the area really well."
Pigeon and his team would walk in front to make sure there was no wildlife before Brave Adventures cleared the trees.
"And so from one day to the other, it changed a lot," Pigeon said, noting it transformed from a single pickup truck trail to a space that was about 50 metres wide.
By December, they had already built 20 kilometres of road and by Christmas, they had a pioneering trail all the way to kilometre 85, the La Martre River Bridge.
"That was a critical piece for us," said Pigeon, "to get an access there so that we could see the main river and get our planning going for the construction of the bridge."
The La Martre River bridge is the fourth one on the highway but it was the most difficult to build, said Pigeon. He said it had to be 58 metres long and made out of steel.
The construction team only had access to the bridge from one side of the river, so they built a second temporary bridge to get the crane across, to access materials, to build the abutments and to install the bridge.
"We achieved that in March 2020," said Pigeon.
Then COVID-19 hit.
A Brampton lawyer allegedly connected to fugitive Ryan Wedding was granted bail Tuesday morning by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
Rankin Inlet hamlet councillors recently passed a motion that has had them avoid drinking alcohol for the 12 days leading up to Christmas, with the goal of setting a positive example for the community.
Jason Jacques says he learned a lot about the importance of choosing his words carefully in his first few months as the interim parliamentary budget officer (PBO).
Durham police say a man is dead after suffering multiple stab wounds in Oshawa Tuesday morning.
An internal review of technical outages that caused significant delays at airports and international land borders this fall has exposed critical flaws with the Canada Border Services Agency's IT services.
Two people are in life-threatening condition after being pulled from a house fire in Scarborough Tuesday morning, according to Toronto Fire Services.
Whenever the door opens at the British Grenadier Bookshop, proprietor Steve Douglas doesn’t know who is going to walk through.
A northeastern Ontario potato farmer says he’s shipping more bags of potatoes to southern Ontario to make up for waning demand.
Halifax’s registry of rental properties is now available to the public online, showing what HRM staff believe are the “bulk” of rentals in the city.
A New Brunswick tenant says he’s being pushed out of his rented bungalow as retribution for complaining about his landlord, but his landlord says she’s the victim of an unfair tenancy tribunal ruling that is preventing her from using the unit to house family.
Snow and freezing rain could affect morning commutes on Tuesday, according to a special weather statement issued by Environment Canada.
Daniel Jolivet, 68, had his first taste of freedom this weekend after spending the last 33 years behind bars.
Peguis First Nation is suing former chief Glenn Hudson over allegations he failed to act in the best interest of the band and financially benefitted from breaches of duty — including claims that he enriched himself, his family and supporters.