One permanent improvement on the Fort Chipewyan winter road is planned to begin this year and it is expected to be complete at some point in 2017. This feature is a permanent bridge that is sorely needed, and it spans the Richardson River north of Fort McMurray. The bridge is just one of the improvements planned that are designed to be permanent in an effort to make it easier to travel to Fort Chipewyan. A permanent bridge on Firebag River has been completed in spite of the warmer winter that forced road crews to work at night. Permanent washrooms have also been installed on the winter road at the entrances which are nearest to Fort Chipewyan and Fort McMurray. There were also electronic messaging boards which were installed.

Fort Chipewyan hamlet manager Bruce Inglis talked about the permanent improvements on the Fort Chipewyan winter road and said “The Firebag River bridge is very important to us because it’s one that historically we had to build ice bridges over. They had to adjust their timetables and schedules to accommodate the better freezing temperatures through the nighttime. We encourage traffic from Fort McMurray to come and visit our community.” Since this river is to the south it typically is one of the last that freezes over and constructing an ice bridge is often delayed. Inglis also reported that the comments that have been received about the Fort Chipewyan winter road have been mostly positive, and that the quality of the road has been good this year.