Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by Dan Davidson

CROSSING COMING – The Yukon River at Dawson City is seen on Dec. 2.

Contractor tapped to build Dawson ice bridge

The Klondike is settling into its third straight winter of not having a regular, government-approved ice bridge between Dawson City and the residents of West Dawson and Sunnydale.

By Dan Davidson on December 11, 2018

DAWSON CITY – The Klondike is settling into its third straight winter of not having a regular, government-approved ice bridge between Dawson City and the residents of West Dawson and Sunnydale.

The Yukon government, meanwhile, is preparing to attempt to bridge the gap at the George Black ferry landing.

In October, after a meeting in August, it was determined that this might be another year like the last two, and that measures might need to be taken to create a frozen crossing.

Cobalt Construction, of Whitehorse, was the only compliant bidder for a tender issued last month.

Brian Crist of the Department of Highways and Public Works said Monday the initial bid from that company was far in excess of the $200,000 budget cap for the project. The specifications had to be scaled back to bring it within those parameters.

“Although the government is very motivated to get an ice bridge in there, it has to be of value to taxpayers as well,” Crist said in an interview.

When Yukon River ice bridges formed naturally, it still cost about $100,000 annually to improve and maintain the crossings, which the local inhabitants initially created.

Last winter, there was an attempt to create a frozen link. The weather did not co-operate in late January, when temperatures hovered around 0 C and it actually rained during the effort.

Later on, when it was much colder, locals were able to create a crossing suitable for smaller vehicles (later for larger ones) several hundred metres upstream from the usual location using a boom and cable construction to collect the ice.

Crist said something similar will be attempted this year. A crew from Cobalt, along with a consultant from a company called Norex, were scheduled to arrive in Dawson today.

Norex has expertise in building ice bridges all over the world, Crist said.

“He will help us assess what we might be doing and whether it makes sense.”

The most favoured option, coming out of a report from the National Research Council, is to attempt to collect the ice behind a full log and cable boom at the ferry landing location.

Crist expressed concerns about the weather, which has been said to be one of the warmest fall/early winter seasons in some time.

Dawson had a week of -30 C or colder weather, but a lot of November was minus single digits or into the teens, and there have been days when the snow fell more like rain.

The ferry was taken out of service on a rainy Oct. 19.

Residents in West Dawson and Sunnydale have two options for getting to town.

From the ferry landing area, one can drive north along the west bank to an area below the end of the Yukon government campground. The traveller can then cross over there, where the river has frozen and a trail has been groomed, then follow the east bank south to the ferry landing.

The alternative route is found to the south of town at Sunnydale. It leads across to Tro’chëk and then, by various routes, to the North Klondike Highway or Front Street.

Both routes are for walkers, skiers, snowmobiles, ATVs or mushers.

Much of this week will be training for working on the river safely and determining how best to get the log boom across it.

According to a news release issued late Monday afternoon, the contractor will start work in mid-December.

The crew will install an ice boom – a floating structure designed to catch accumulating ice – across the river. The installation is scheduled to be wrapped up before Christmas.

Work on the ice bridge will then start back up in January or when conditions are most favourable for ice formation.

The project’s success will depend on a number of factors, such as weather, water temperatures, air temperatures and ice conditions.

“Accessing Dawson has become increasingly difficult for the residents of West Dawson in light of the recent effects of climate change,” said Highways and Public Works Minister Richard Mostyn.

“Cobalt Construction has extensive experience in highway construction in the Yukon, and we look forward to working with them to find a solution to keep these communities connected.”

According to the press release, the contract is valued at just under $200,000.

“Yukon government staff and Dawson City community members met on August 22 and October 9, 2018 to discuss the issue of the river not freezing, why it wasn’t freezing, and what could be done about it,” the release noted.

“(They) contributed their observations and thoughts to a National Research Council report on the ice bridge.

“An attempt was made last January to induce formation on the river with a sprayer, but it was called off because of warm temperatures.”

Comments (4)

Up 8 Down 7

Hugh Mungus on Dec 14, 2018 at 2:17 pm

@ Rural Resident

$1k? You should have bid on the job. $199K of pure profit. Or I guess it's safe to assume you have no idea what you are talking about.

Up 18 Down 2

Rural Resident on Dec 13, 2018 at 5:05 pm

I could build that using rope and discarded Christmas trees for $1000.00.

Up 17 Down 5

Lisa Keenan on Dec 12, 2018 at 1:57 pm

I don't understand why a regular bridge isn't being built? It seems we are wasting money every year for an ice bridge and a ferry with employees when building a real bridge would be more inexpensive.

Up 6 Down 2

james clarke on Dec 11, 2018 at 6:02 pm

I am not a engineer, but seeing the pictures of the ice channel and seeing the ice on both sides of the river, I think that for some reason (silt) has increased the speed of the water in the channel.
I think that pontoons across this area anchored to the shore is the only answer for the future.
good luck.
JHC

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