Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road

Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road Joint Venture

Commenced: 1998
Completed: In Progress
Client: Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road Joint Venture

The Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road (TCWR) is a permitted, up to, 604 km heavy haul ice road corridor serving as a re-supply route for operating diamond mines and exploration in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Approximately 85% of this road is constructed on frozen lakes, with overland portions linking the 64 lakes along the route. From 1998 to 2016, Nuna constructed and maintained the winter road from Yellowknife to Lupin; and in 2008, Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road Joint Venture (TCWR JV) (and Nuna) received the Professional Award of Merit for Engineering from the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists (NAPEG).

In 2016, TCWR JV split the road contract into 2 segments to allow for additional regional Indigenous participation. Nuna Deton’Cho Winter Road Services Joint Venture, a partnership with Det’on Cho Corporation (a wholly owned development corporation of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation), holds the contract for the North end of the road comprising 149 km over frozen lakes and portages; construction, operation, and maintenance of land and ice-based airstrips to support shoulder season activities; and full-service operation of the client’s Lac de Gras camp.