Expect to see more trucks on winter road outside Yellowknife soon

It's going to be another busy year for traffic on the winter road to the Northwest Territories' diamond mines, according to the joint venture that builds and maintains the road for the mines.

"If we reach the numbers that I'm expecting and its still a bit early because itwill vary between now and the start of the winter road it could end up being the second busiest year ever on the road," said Ron Near, director of winter road operations.

Nearsays supplies to build the Gahcho Kue diamond mine are contributing to the extra traffic, as well as smaller projects at Ekati and Diavik.

"Each mine will fly in a certain amount of product throughoutthe year, but the main mineresupply for all three partners happens on the winter road."

Near says as many as 9,000 northbound truck loads will travel to the mines, carryingeverything fromkitchensuppliesto large pieces of machinery.

He says as long as he hasenough time to plan for the number of loads, operations should go smoothly. But he saysextra traffic will be noticeable on the Ingraham Trail outside Yellowknife.