Carmacks Mayor Elaine Wyatt says the Yukon government is ignoring the community concerns over the traffic route for the proposed Carmacks copper mine.

As it stands, she said in an interview Thursday, transport trucks and other traffic going to and from the mine will run right through the heart of the community, past homes and playgrounds.

The mayor pointed out that in the final assessment report by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board, the board finds the impact of additional industrial traffic can be minimized with certain measures.

"And that is what I have an issue with, because the community won't accept that," Wyatt said.

The mayor said the community's objection to a transportation route through town and its support for a bypass that's already on paper have been on the record for months.

But there's no mention of the bypass in the screening report. The reports says that impacts of industrial traffic through town could be mitigated with a traffic management plan developed by the Western Copper Corp. in consultation with the community, the Little Salmon-Carmacks First Nation and the Yukon government.

It also recommends that Western Copper sit down with the community to review what financial assistance might be required to help with additional road maintenance required because of the heavier traffic load.

Allan Nixon, assistance deputy minister with the Department of Highways and Public Works, said this morning the bypass remains an option.

The company estimates that during construction there would be between 30 to 35 vehicle round trips per day along the route through town. There would be an average of one large load per day during construction, to a maximum of seven or eight, says the screening report.

During production, there would be an average of 30 round trips per day; an average of six large loads, to a maximum of nine.

YESAB has recommended the mine be permitted to proceed, though it has also attached 148 conditions to minimize environmental and social impact.

Western Copper has indicated it would take two years to construct the mine site, and it would like to be in production by 2011.

The route proposed by the company for the environmental assessment goes down the street which runs the past the gas station, the Carmacks Hotel, the nursing station, and onto River Drive, the mayor pointed out

She said there is a boardwalk along River Drive that's always used by folks taking leisurely strolls. Pocket Park is located along the drive, as well as a new toddlers' park just off from it, not to mention a row of homes all the way along, she said.

Wyatt said the company and the government are well aware of the community's resistance to the proposed route, but there's been no communication.

Archie Lang, minister of Highways and Public Works, was scheduled to be in Carmacks last Tuesday evening for a public meeting about the proposed transportation route. His office phoned Wednesday to cancel the meeting, because of personal reasons, the mayor said.

Premier Dennis Fentie, Wyatt added, has only said he is not prepared to discuss the issue of a bypass until after the assessment board has released its report.

"I am annoyed, because it is not like this was a big secret," she said. "We made it very clear that is not where we wanted the traffic to go."

The mayor doubts whether Fentie and Lang would accept ore trucks roaring up and down the street in front of their own homes.

She said there's been mention of running the large trucks at night, though that wouldn't likely sit well with residents living along the route.

River Drive is already in need of repairs, as is the bridge over the Nordenskiold River, she pointed out.

Admittedly, there are a handful of Carmacks residents who favour the route through town because of the additional commercial activity it would create.

The vast majority oppose it, she said.

"Don't get me wrong. We want the economic growth," she said. "It's good for the community, and it's good for the Yukon. But at what cost?"

The bypass route, she said, would take traffic off the Klondike Highway just before town at the entrance to the existing industrial park. It would swing the traffic past Carmacks and come out on the Freegold Road, on the other side of the community's country residential subdivision, Wyatt explained.

She said it's particularly frustrating when you can't even sit down with the powers that be to at least discuss the bypass proposal.

The assistant deputy minister, however, insisted the bypass is not off the table.

Nixon pointed out that while the assessment board has issued its report and recommendations, the Yukon and federal governments have not released their final decisions on the recommendation to permit the mine to proceed.

The decision bodies have up to 60 days to issue their decision documents, from the July 18 release date of the YESAB report.

Nixon said the bypass route is about four kilometres, and involves a new bridge across the Nordenskiold River.

Current estimates put the cost at approximately $8.5 million, though that's likely to climb, particularly in these times of escalating construction costs, he explained.

Nixon said if cabinet made a decision to proceed, it would take about two years to have the road and bridge ready for use. There would be some additional time required to run the bypass proposal through its own environmental assessment and permitting process, he pointed out.

Nixon said while the bypass remains an option, so too does the development of a traffic management plan for the route through town.

The Carmacks copper proposal is also facing staunch opposition from the local first nation, as well as the Yukon Conservation Society. Both maintain the method of processing the ore - using sulphuric acid to leach the copper from the ore - is dangerously experimental.