[litteng]

actually mech eng, but spent my career r in projects, site eng and const mgr to build Mxxxxxn for Cogema/Areva, and spend time U/G in cigar lake too. enjoy the U/G more then the open pit, also split another 25 yr between engineering and operation & construction in potash, zinc, gold, tarsand

the roads are not impassable ,but speed (higher) and impact with oversized rocks etc will do exactly as you described.

i worked with manager who's motto was "build it as tough as a brick ****************house"

in the north the vehicles need to be that tough. when i was younger, one summer job was with Ford leasing, and we found that the inline 6 cyl trucks stood up way better than the v8, (give me a 300ci ford 6 inline over any v8)

that was then don't know if it would still apply today...

So looking at the map, theres no road direct to Ft smith via ft Mcmurray, so you must be going up through hay river?