Anyone from the NWT who went on a southern road trip this summer may have been taken aback upon crossing the 60th Parallel on the way home.
It was not that anything had changed in a few weeks. On the contrary, everything was exactly like it was when the traveller left home.
That is, the highway suddenly became a Northern highway upon crossing the NWT-Alberta border. Just like it has been for years.
The NWT's Highway 1, which begins at the border, is a shocking reintroduction to northern driving. It is potholed, patched and bumpy – not to mention narrow.
The difference is absolutely stark between that and virtually all main highways in southern Canada. In the South, Highway 1 would not be acceptable as a secondary or tertiary route. (If we knew the term for a fourth-level highway it would not be acceptable as that either in the rest of the country.)
In the South, there are also obvious efforts underway to maintain and improve the highway system. You can see that all over the country when you have to face slowdowns and diversions because of road construction. It is especially happening in Ontario, where long-distance highway travel is actually slower than normal because of all the delays caused by construction.
From an excavation being made through a hill to straighten Highway 17 in northern Ontario to beautiful new pavement on sections of Highway 35 in northern Alberta, it is obvious that significant work is being done to upgrade southern highways.
And nowhere has highway travel improved more dramatically than in New Brunswick. Twenty years or so ago, travelling by highway across New Brunswick was, to be generous, a challenge. Now, there is a doubled highway right across the province from Quebec to Nova Scotia. The difference is dramatic. In fact, you are across New Brunswick before you even know it.
We would like to say that the NWT's highways are simply falling behind those of the South. However, we can't say that because the highways of the NWT were never on par with southern highways.
All we can say is that the quality of the NWT's highways is falling further and further behind. It is as obvious as it is depressing.
We all know the challenges of building roads in the harsher and changing climate of the North, and we can attribute some of the differences in the highway systems to that.
We also recognize there are vast distances between communities in the North, and smaller populations that don't have the political clout to demand improved highways.
And of course, we know that some work is being done on the NWT highway system, like the chipsealing of Highway 5 last summer. (However, we also recognize that work was no doubt prompted by the Arctic Winter Games.)
All those factors can be taken into account, and still the highways of the NWT are unacceptably not in the same league as southern highways.
If the NWT is ever to grow – in population and economically – we cannot continue to accept terrible highways.