On February 13th I hit the road again. This time it was up north to the boom town of Fort McMurray. Or as some people refer to it... Fort McMONEY. I had never been there before and was looking forward to witnessing the spectacle first hand. This was to be yet another business trip. My installation foreman Barry was along with me this time, so we were able to share the driving duties. Our goal was to have a first hand look at some tired old skylights that are to be replaced this coming summer in conjunction with some roof replacement work. The project is currently out for tender and I thought it would be worthwhile to get a first hand look at it to more accurately prepare our bid. But, it sure made for a long day as we left the city at 6:00AM, and eventually made it back home by about 7:30PM. But not without some adventure in between!
There has been a lot of talk in the media lately about how awful Highway 63, the Death Highway, really is. For the most part it is a two lane highway that handles virtually all of the traffic in and out of McMoney. In light of some recent traffic fatalities along the highway there is a big push on to see it twinned. There is a short section immediately south of McMoney that is twinned. And, about an hour south of town there is another section of about 35km that is complete. But the rest of the drive is all two lane highway and it will be at least a couple of years before the road construction is completed.
It takes nearly five hours in good driving conditions to make it to McMoney from Edmonton. This is usually hampered by heavy industrial traffic transporting materials to the Oil Sands. Mostly these are large modules for some of the upgraders and plants that process the tar sands. There are literally thousands of these things being transported north at a rate of several every day. They are loaded onto multi-wheeled flat deck trailers and move along, very slowly, with large trucks both pushing and pulling them. They are only permitted to move during daylight hours. They pull over whenever they can to allow the congested traffic behind them to pass, but I can certainly understand the frustration that builds following one for these things for what seems like eons. Those in a hurry to get away from or back to Fort McMoney take unsafe and unnecessary chances trying to pass these things and head on collisions are not uncommon. We didn't see any of those, but road conditions were not great and we drove through moderate fog, snow and black ice. We saw five vehicles either upside down or on their side in the ditch. Some of these accidents had just occurred as the vehicles were still running, and the drivers in the process of getting out and waiting for a tow.
Barry drove all the way there, and we quickly headed over to the Medical Center that was the location of the skylights that were to be replaced. We put up our ladder and climbed up onto the roof. There was a lot of snow... probably almost double as much as back home in Edmonton. We assessed the jobsite, confirmed some measurements, and got a little better understanding of the scope of the work. After a quick stop to refuel and have some lunch, it was my turn to drive back home. As the sun began to set and the wind picked up, the road conditions deteriorated. The highway was glazed with a light sheet of wind polished black ice that glistened in the headlights of the truck. We were forced to shift into four wheel drive and slow right down to about 60km/h. I think I could have put my skates on and travelled faster. But, eventually we made it back home and called it a day.
I'd like to drive up that way again sometime. I noticed quite a number of interesting old buildings that would have made for some great photography. There is also a very large area of burnt forest that is the result of the big House River Fire several years ago. This has also resulted in a rather stark landscape that could make for some interesting photographs. This time around we just drove as it was a long enough day already, without stopping to take pictures. The only photographs I took were a couple of shots of the jobsite that we visited.
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