The Deh Cho Bridge is being financed with a $165 million bond issue to be repaid over 35 years, and with additional funds provided from current GNWT appropriations. This calculator is my effort to show the costs of that funding, and other Bridge expenditures, over that 35 year period and (as an example) for the first year of operations.

Some things are unknown - the major variable is the estimated level of freight traffic that will generated by existing and proposed North Slave mines. Adjust the options (more are available by clicking the "advanced options" checkbox) and press Calculate to see the results of different assumptions. The 35-year totals have been converted to 2011 dollars using a default 2% inflation rate - the actual dollar figures will grow larger as the years go by. Numbers have been calculated by your friendly neighbourhood NorthernRaven, and come with no warranty!

November 2012 December 2012 Opening date for the bridge.

2046 (bonds repaid) 2047 (35 years from 2013) 2086 (75 year bridge life) Last year of toll collection.

??? General estimate - 230,000 2012 actual - 223,206 2012 actual - 210,188 2011 actual - 241,000 2010 actual - 121,000 2009 actual - 173,000 2008 actual - 245,000 2007 actual - 330,000 Prolog 'Conservative' forecast - 352,000 Mine tonnage on winter ice road.

Customized mine freight projections.

Expert mining settings should go here.

$100,000 $200,000 $350,000 $450,000 $600,000 Estimated annual operating costs for the Bridge.

$200,000 $300,000 $500,000 Annual costs of toll collection.

0% 2% 2.5% 3%

Calculate

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		2013		through 2046 2047 2087 (2011 dollars)
		$???	Principal and Interest repayment on the bonds.	$???
	+	$???	Cost overruns in the construction budget (2010-2012).	$???
	+	n/a	Tolling infrastructure capital costs	$???
	=	$???	Capital expenditures	$???
	+	$???	Annual operations and maintenance costs for Bridge.	$???
	+	$???	Toll collection costs	$???
	+	n/a	Involvement Grant to Fort Providence	???
	+	$200,000	Opportunity Grant to Fort Providence	???
	+	???	Costs of extra $26 million debt	???
	=	$???	Operating expenditures	$???
	=	$???	Total expenditures	$???
			Community Tolls
			Mine traffic tolls
	-	$???	Toll Revenue estimate	$???
	=	$???	Net Cash Expenditure	$???
	-	???	Ferry Savings	???
		n/a	Lost Toll Revenue (2011-2012)	$???
		n/a	Extra ferry and icebridge costs (2011-2012)	$???
	+		2011 delay costs guesstimate	$???
	=	???	Net Cost (shortfall to GNWT)	???

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Using data from the Department of Transportation's Weigh-In-Motion scale, which breaks traffic down by axle counts, here is the hypothetical shortfall to the GNWT ("Net Cost") for previous years had the bridge existed, given the assumed tolls from that year's traffic. The variability comes from the fluctuating amount of mine freight.

Year	Tolls	Shortfall
2008	???	???
2009	???	???
2010	???	???
2011	???	???

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