Nahanni Range Road Functional Plan

Location

Howard’s Pass, Yukon

Expertise

Transportation Planning

The Nahanni Range Road is a 196 kilometre long gravel resource road that accesses the existing Cantung Mine.

The road also provides access to a number of small mineral exploration projects that are located along the road corridor. Selwyn Chihong Mining Corporation Ltd. plans to utilize the Nahanni Range Road as part of their route to access their Howard’s Pass Lead/Zinc Property. The operation of this project is expected for 11 years and it is expected to generate approximately 1500 jobs during construction and 750 during operations.

The Yukon Government retained Associated Engineering to develop a Functional Plan for the Nahanni Range Road to prioritize improvements along the Corridor. The intention of the Functional Plan is to address the needs of the current road users, and also address the future needs related to potential development of the Selwyn Project and other resource projects in the area.

Client

The Yukon Government

Project Highlights

11 years

expected operation

1500 jobs

during construction

750 jobs

during operations

A needs analysis was conducted to identify deficiencies along the corridor, existing traffic volumes, projected traffic volumes, and potential growth scenarios. Safety and reliability was also considered in the needs analysis. Based the needs identified, two options were developed. The feasibility of each option was determined using a Multiple Accounts Assessment and cost-benefit analysis, and a recommendation to the Yukon Government was provided. The Multiple Accounts Assessment considered capital costs, salvage value, maintenance costs, rehabilitation costs, road user costs, environmental considerations, geotechnical considerations, and socio-economic factors related to the project.