The JV TCWR has reached the ice thickness required for haul trucks to now haul at full weight. Maintenance on the winter road will continue throughout the haul season. The JV is expecting approximately 5,400 loads to go north to the mines and updates may be made periodically throughout the Winter Road Season. Safety remains a priority for all users of the road.

TCWR Planned Opening

The plan is to open the TCWR on Monday, 12 February at 8:00 am with a soft start. YK Dispatch will dispatch a convoy of 4 trucks every hour on the hour for the day. The plan for the second day is to increase to a convoy to 6 trucks every hour. This will effectively give us 64 Tee times on day 1 and 132 Tee times on day 2.

YK Dispatch will open the system to book Tee times 24 hours prior to the start.

Construction on the JV Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road continues. Construction on the JV TCWR is scheduled to be completed in the first half of February 2024.
The JV TCWR estimates approximately 6000 loads to go north this year.

The Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road (TCWR) joint venture confirms that passengers of the Air Tindi charter flight that came down on Wednesday 27 December were workers heading to one of the accommodation camps in order to begin construction of the 2024 winter road. TCWR wishes a speedy recovery to the passengers who were injured and has offered its assistance to passengers and their families, should they need it.

TCWR will collaborate with the Canadian Transportation Safety Board, supplying any information they need for their investigation. 

After assessing the situation, TCWR does not expect the incident to affect the construction of the winter road, which will be completed, as scheduled, in the first half of February.

The Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road (TCWR) joint venture is made up of Rio Tinto’s Diavik Diamond Mine, Burgundy Diamonds Ekati Diamond Mine and the Gaucho Kue Diamond mine which is a joint venture between De Beers and Mountain Province is responsible for constructing, operating and maintaining the winter road built each year to supply these mines in the arctic with their annual stores inventory and heavy loads.

The 2023 operating season for the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road Joint Venture will start at 8:00 AM on Tuesday, January 31, 2023. The Winter Road, which is expecting 6,400 loads to go north this year, will finish on March 31, 2023.

Winter Road trucks operating under the Joint Venture’s mandate will be identified by a three-digit reflective plate located in the corner of the front windshield on the driver’s side.

To ensure the safety of the traveling public and to minimize delays for residents on the Ingraham Trail,
the Joint Venture has implemented the following operating components for Highway # 4:

• Winter road trucks will be dispatched in convoys every 20 minutes and travel on the Ingraham Trail with a minimum spacing of 1000 metres between the units;
• Dispatching of the Winter Road trucks north on the Ingraham Trail, will be suspended twice at day (7:00 AM to 8:00 AM & 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM) to minimize the impact to residents commuting to Yellowknife in the morning and back home at the end of the workday;
• The Joint Venture will be operating two (2) Security vehicles 24 hours a day along the entire length of the Ingraham Trail monitoring the speed, spacing, and driving of the Winter Road trucks; and,
• Winter Road truck speeds are limited to 70 kilometres while traveling on Ingraham Trail.

All emergencies on the Ingraham Trail must be reported to emergency services by calling 911.

Residents of the Ingraham Trail and the travelling public on Highway # 4 can report safety concerns or non-emergency events to the Joint Venture Winter Road Dispatch Centre at 873-9111.

To keep updated on the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road, follow the daily updates at https://jvtcwinterroad.ca/.

For further information or questions, please contact Barry Henkel, Director, Winter Road Operations for the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road Joint Venture at 669-6500 Ext: 6561 or by email.