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Area highway construction could mean 4,000 jobs

More than $600 million for highway improvements in Northern Ontario could mean up to 4,000 jobs over the next two years.
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FILE -- Construction on Hwy 11-17 at Hodder Avenue is seen from above in this July photograph. (Jamie Smith, tbnewswatch.com)
More than $600 million for highway improvements in Northern Ontario could mean up to 4,000 jobs over the next two years.

The province laid out its Northern Highways Program for 2011-2012 Friday morning and Ontario Road Builders Organization member Silvio Di Gregorio said the investment has a tremendous economic impact on the region.

“Road construction typically tends to employ a lot of individuals,” he said. “A lot of materials are created in the north like your asphalt … you’re not exactly having to buy a lot of materials, so the funds expended really translates into a lot of people working on a project.”

Also the secretary-treasurer for Bruno’s Contracting Thunder Bay Limited, Di Gregorio said they have been able to retrain many displaced forestry workers.

“If it were not for the all the funds that have been committed via the Northern Highways Program to this region, it would be hard providing that employment base,” he said.

About 50 kilometres of highway between Thunder Bay and Nipigon is to be four-laned. Some of that work has already begun and the rest will start next year.

MPP Michael Gravelle (Lib., Thunder Bay-Superior North) said that by 2014, there will be a continuous stretch of four-lane highway all the way to Pass Lake, including a stretch of road from Nipigon to Red Rock.

One of the larger projects in the program is a new Nipigon River bridge, which will be a four-laned cable-stayed bridge with a pedestrian underpass.

Construction will begin next year and will take two years to complete.

Gravelle said the design is extraordinary and he believes the structure will draw a lot of attention.

The pedestrian underpass is of significant importance.

“That very much speaks to concerns that were expressed by the mayors of Nipigon and Red Rock and most particularly by Chief Pierre Pelletier of Red Rock First Nation, who expressed concerns about access for pedestrians to get from his community into Nipigon,” Gravelle said.

“This (bridge) is in response to that; it’s a wonderful solution.”

With much of the work happening east of the city, Gravelle added there is a planning study underway examining four-laning 40 kilometres from Kakabeka Falls to Shabaqua.

 




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