Village gets go-ahead for work on Tsetso Trail

The chipsealing of a portion of Tsetso Trail in the village of Fort Simpson began last week, resolving the question of whether the work would take place.

The village had been waiting for the OK from the territorial government to include that section in a planned $4.2-million chipsealing project covering most of the village’s roadways.

Eventually, the village and GNWT combined their efforts to chipseal the stretch of trail connecting each end of Cazon Crescent’s roundabout.

The Department of Infrastructure and village administration now have a plan to cover the $118,000 cost of the work, while the village provided the gravel pack, said Mayor Sean Whelly.

“The village had already paid for all of that [gravel] because we were anticipating that we would be doing that Tsetso Trail area,” he said.

“Department staff did work pretty hard with us to make sure that the project would go ahead under pretty short notice.”

Whelly said both the village and the department learned a lot from the experience.

“Both the department and ourselves, we do want to work a little more closely on any chipsealing projects going ahead in the future,” he said.

“Because in 2022, they are saying they’re going to do quite a bit of chipsealing in the area. And we are planning on doing more chipping, as well.”

The Department of Infrastructure did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

The village will now apply to Infrastructure Canada when the next round of federal funding becomes available, said Whelly.

“We’re going to work with the department, maybe go under their larger-scale projects and gain some cost advantages through economies of scale that they would be able to offer,” he said.

“We want to work with [the GNWT] on making sure that the next project just goes a lot more smoothly.”