Maybe we could just leave some places alone.   Oh well, it was a thought, anyway.

---- Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM> wrote: 
> that's a pretty thickgravel road !
> 
> thanks for the rough  meaning of
> 
> Tuktoyaktuk
> 
> .
> 
> 
> On 3/15/2013 8:41 PM, Phil Zimmerman wrote:
> > Date:         Fri, 15 Mar 2013 08:39:31 -0700
> > Reply-To:     Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
> >
> > Remember when a bunch of listmembers made their epic trip up to Univik?
> > http://www.vanagon.com/journeys/inuvik/index.htm
> > This week it was announced that the road is going to be extended to reach Tuktoyaktuk (on the arctic ocean)
> > http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/media/news-nouvelles/2013/20130313yellowknife-eng.html
> > --------
> > Alistair, thanks for the link.
> >
> > I do recall that 1996 Vanagon road trip to Inuvik on the Dempster (dumpster) highway.
> > One driver on that trip, Pete Clark, passed away last year..
> > The nickname dumpster is for the blown/ruined tires thrown into dumpsters along the route..:-)
> > Shale gravel is very hard on tires (the gravel is harvested locally along the route)
> >
> > I worked out of Tuktoyaktuk back in 1977 before the road from Dawson City was built to Inuvik.
> > Fly to Inuvik then drive on an Ice road on the river to Tuk… (winter only). Oil and Gas Exploration.
> > The ice road is built each winter and costly for the short duration the road is passable.
> >
> > The high cost of road building in this region is becoming more expensive as the climate warms.
> > The permafrost is receding deeper into the surface of the tundra. Enough to swallow your average Vanagon!
> > A gravel roadbed must be built on the permafrost. Also, must be thick enough to insulate the permafrost
> > from melting from the traffic the road carries. Often the gravel must be 20-30 feet thick.
> > Thus, the high cost..
> >
> > Thanks again, for the link…
> >
> > Pz
> >
> > Tuktoyaktuk is anglicized Inuit roughly meaning: looks like/resembles a caribou
> >

--
David McNeely