The Deh Cho Bridge in Fort Providence, N.W.T., is running at least a year behind schedule, officials said Tuesday. (CBC)

Construction of the Deh Cho Bridge in the Northwest Territories will be delayed by at least one year, officials with the territorial government and the company building the bridge announced Tuesday.

The delay means the bridge, which will provide a year-round link between many N.W.T. communities and Alberta, will not open in the fall of 2010 as originally scheduled.

Exactly when the bridge will be completed will be determined after the structure's design is completed and approved, said Andrew Gamble, project manager with the Deh Cho Bridge Corp.

Changes to the design, proposed by several international bridge design firms, has meant general contractor Atcon Construction of Miramichi, N.B., has been asked not to start work on the upper structure of the bridge for now.

The delay may also affect construction costs for the bridge, which is currently pegged at $165 million.

"The delay means we're carrying the construction costs and the interest costs a little longer," Gamble told reporters in Yellowknife Tuesday afternoon.

Design changes could lower costs: Gamble

"We don't know what the impacts will be on the actual cost to the contractor or the price, but we think some of the design changes are actually going to simplify both the fabrication and erection processes. So I think there's an opportunity actually to reduce the construction price, and that'll partly offset the delay and the financing costs."

Gamble said there is a $10-million contingency fund to cover extra costs, but $3.1 million of that fund has already been used.

As well, the first interest payment on the government's loan to the bridge corporation is due in the fall of 2010, the original opening date.

The $5.5-million payment may be paid through the contingency fund, Gamble said.

The Deh Cho bridge, being built over the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence, will provide a year-round road link between the N.W.T.'s North Slave communities and Alberta. Currently, the only way to cross the river is by ferry or ice road.

Work on the span, considered to be the largest construction project the N.W.T. government has ever undertaken, was slowed earlier this year by a work stoppage and by questions raised about the structure's design.

As well, contract disputes between Atcon and some subcontractors on the project have been reported.

Neither Atcon nor the bridge corporation have given specifics on the disputes, while the territorial government has refused to comment on them.

N.W.T. contractor pulled off work

Gamble also revealed Tuesday that an N.W.T.-based contractor involved in the bridge construction, Rowe Construction, has been pulled from the project.

Gamble said Rowe was a subcontractor to Atcon, working on the bridge foundation. That job has now been awarded to Ruskin Construction, a B.C.-based company.

Gamble said the bridge corporation will hire another northern contractor to do some of the work.