Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road


Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road is an annual ice road first built in 1982 to service mines and exploration activities in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Northern Canada. Between long, the road is said to be the world's longest heavy haul ice road and operates for eight to ten weeks starting in the last week of January. Most of the road is built over frozen lakes,, with the remaining built on over 64 land portages between lakes. The ice road was the location of the first season of Ice Road Truckers.

Construction and operation

The winter road is constructed by Nuna Logistics and RTL-Robinson every January and takes about six weeks to complete. The first vehicle along each season is a Swedish-made Hägglund army-type reconnaissance vehicle designed to float if it falls through the ice; it tows an ice-thickness-detecting sonar. This is followed by road building equipment including "specialized low ground pressure equipment". The road, built extra wide to avoid blockages during blizzards and to allow opposing trucks to pass, is kept clear of snow, which acts as insulation, throughout the season as removal allows the ice to freeze faster and thicker. The road is wide on the ice, but narrower on land portages ranging between wide. Once initially built, the road is checked by drilling holes into the ice. If the ice needs to be thickened, water trucks are called in to add water to that specific area. The road is only operational during February and March, an average of 67 days per year. The ice has been proven by engineers to support light vehicle loads at and increasing to full highway truck loads as the ice thickens. A thickness of is required for a super B tanker carrying up to and may weigh up to.
On some lakes, traffic may be re-routed to new lanes to avoid damaged or rough sections of ice, and additional "express lanes" allow returning, empty trucks to travel at higher speeds.
The highest allowable speed for fully loaded trucks on the ice is with some areas reduced to only. Empty trucks have a maximum speed limit of on the ice. Speed limits are strictly enforced by security personnel with radar used to clock speeds just as national and provincial police forces do.
There are three road camps servicing drivers hauling loads along the road, they are at: Dome Lake Maintenance Camp, Lockhart Lake and Lac de Gras. Dome Lake is for maintenance crew and emergency use for drivers, Lockhart Lake provides drivers with food, shower, and a place to do laundry. Lac de Gras is for road crews, emergency use and for driver facilities for drivers travelling north of Ekati.
Truck drivers are not allowed to travel the winter road alone, therefore, up to four trucks are dispatched from Yellowknife every 20 minutes. Heavy and wide loads are dispatched from Yellowknife between 12:00 am and 6:00 am to avoid daily commuter traffic.
The main product shipped is diesel fuel and other materiel includes "cement, tires, prill for explosives manufacture, and construction materials."

History

The Tibbitt to Contwoyto Ice Road follows part of the original road that was cleared to the Tundra Mine in 1960–1961 by John Denison. This road began at Discovery Mine which was already connected to Yellowknife by ice road up the Yellowknife River and swung east to Gordon Lake, heading north up Drybones, Lockhart and Mackay Lakes where the Tundra Mine was located. This route was used until 1968 when the mine closed.
YearRoad OpenedRoad ClosedFreight Carried
Tonnes		Super B
Capacity Reached
Number of
Truck Loads
North
2000January 29April 3111,090n/a3,703
2001February 1April 13245,586~March 37,981
2002January 26April 16256,915February 227,735
2003February 1April 2198,818February 215,243
2004January 28March 31179,144February 235,091
2005January 26April 5252,533February 207,607
2006February 4March 26177,674not reached6,841
2007January 27April 9330,002February 2610,922
2008January 29April 7245,585February 157,484
2009February 1March 25173,195February 155,377
2010February 4March 24120,020TBA3,508
2011January 28March 31239,000February 176,832
2012February 1March 28210,188March 16,551
2013January 30March 31223,206February 146,017
2014January 30April 1243,928TBA7,069
2015January 30March 31305,215TBA8,915
2016February 9Open 47 Days262,261TBA8,766
2017February 1March 29279,484TBA8,241
2018February 1Open 58 Days303,725TBA8,209
2019February 1March 31257,176TBA7,489
2020January 31April 8TBATBAExpected 7600

The road was reopened in 1979 as part of an equipment haul to the new Lupin Mine at Contwoyto Lake, now Nunavut but then the NWT, pioneered by Robinson's Trucking and Hugh Arden. It followed the old Discovery Mine to Gordon Lake route. An experimental operation, Lupin decided not to continue using the road at this time and relied instead on Hercules C-130 aircraft to haul in machinery during construction of the mine.
In 1983, the ice road to Lupin Mine reopened as an economic alternative to yearly freight haul using aircraft. The section between Tibbitt Lake and Gordon Lake was built at this time. Another gold mine, the Salmita Mine also benefited from this ice road.
Until 1998, the road was licensed and operated by Echo Bay Mines, owners of the Lupin Mine, after which it became a joint venture between Echo Bay Mines, BHP Billiton, and Diavik Diamond Mines.
Since 1999, the road has been licensed and operated by the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road Joint Venture, today a partnership between BHP Billiton, Diavik Diamond Mines and De Beers Canada. The road is engineered by Nor-Ex Ice Engineering, and, since 1998, Nuna Logistics, a 51% Inuit owned joint venture between the Nunasi Corporation, Kitikmeot Corporation and Nuna Management Group, has been responsible for the annual construction, maintenance, dispatching, and camp catering for the primary road, with RTL Enterprises taking care of the secondary road. Security on the road, provided by SecureCheck until 2009, is now provided by Det’on Cho Scarlet Security. Det’on Cho is a Yellowknives Dene company with headquarters in N'Dilo and Scarlet Security, based in Yellowknife, is an Alarand affiliate.
The year 2007 saw record usage of the ice road with 10,922 loads north, totalling. That record number doesn't include the 818 back hauls south, totalling. The road was open for 73 days from January 27 to April 9, only closed for a total of 91.5 hours. There were over 700 drivers registered during 2007 with nine accidents and one minor injury. During the record 2007 season, there were 99 verbal, 5 written warnings and 5 speeding violations. Nine five-day suspensions and seven season suspensions were issued.
In 2007 the road was featured on The History Channel series called Ice Road Truckers. The mining company that owned the road where the first season was filmed felt that the show portrayed the road in a negative fashion, and decided not to participate in future seasons of the show. A new rule for the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Roads was enacted for the 2008 season prohibiting commercial, media, video or rolling film cameras either inside or attached to the outside of vehicle. The show's producers said that they had located an alternate ice road and that there would be a second season of the show; the road featured in season 2 was the Tuktoyaktuk Winter Road.

Routes

Primary route

The ice road begins about east of Yellowknife at the end of Highway 4, more commonly known as the Ingraham Trail.
From there, it winds its way north the following destinations:
The road ends in Jericho Diamond Mine, at the north end of Contwoyto Lake, Nunavut.

Secondary route

The secondary route begins about east of Yellowknife at Prosperous Lake. The road heads north across the lake just to the west of Cassidy Point and through Quyta Lake where some of the earliest gold samples were found in 1933. From there the road continues north to Johnston Lake and then northeast to Giauque Lake, with a road heading west to the old Discovery Mine, now the Yellowknife Gold Project operated by Tyhee Development. From Giauque the road travels east across Thistlethwaite Lake and northeast through Smokey Lake before joining the main route just north of Gordon Lake.

Maps