THUNDER BAY - Major transportation projects across Northern Ontario including the twinning of highways in key corridors in the Northwest are highlighted in a new plan released by the provincial government, but details such as timelines remain vague.
Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney released the draft transportation plan on Thursday and it includes 60 actions to expand highways and enhance transit services.
“We need to work harder to find solutions,” Mulroney said. “People in northern Ontario deserve access to a well planned and access to transportation network.”
Mulroney said the provincial government is investing $625 million on highway improvements in Northern Ontario, which will create more than 300 direct and indirect construction jobs.
“These projects will help stimulate our economy while reducing travel times, keeping our roads safer, and help businesses keep goods moving,” she said. “The work doesn’t stop here. This plan is a living document that will ensure it continues to meet people’s needs.”
Included in the draft plan is the continuation of four-laning Highway 11/17 between Thunder Bay and Nipigon and expanding Highway 17 from Kenora to the Manitoba border from two lanes to four.
“I often felt the entire stretch at some point needs to be twinned. Nobody disputes that. It is the only section of the country where there is no twinned highway,” said Greg Rickford, Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines.“When and where it makes sense, twining projects will be underway.”
But the draft transportation plan does not include any definitive timelines for when that work might actually be completed.
“We want to make sure that we get it right and our plan responds to the needs we hear from stakeholders and municipalities across northern Ontario,” Mulroney said.
Rickford added that plans of twinning these corridors in Northern Ontario have been ongoing for more than 10 years and the new transportation plan is about remaining committed as partners with municipalities and Indigenous communities to prevent delays.
“The fact of the matter is there was a lack of will and desire to get these projects underway. In the absence of that kind of commitment and I would argue in the lack of the absence of a plan, it’s been difficult for people to understand how a lot of these roads will get filled out,” he said.
“We have more on the Indigenous engagement side and embracing their issues and frankly focusing more on their opportunities in an effort to move ahead and start building a twinned highway from the Manitoba border to Kenora and beyond.”
The most recent stretch of Highway 11/17 between Thunder Bay and Nipigon was completed near Red Rock in 2018 but work on the project has been at a standstill since the Ford government was elected.
The most recent development is a $71 million contract being awarded to Terra North Construction to twin an 8.6 kilometre section of the highway near Dorion.
The draft transportation plan also highlighted previous work already announced by the provincial government, including continuing the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission bus routes.
There will also be an expansion to rest areas in Northwestern Ontario, which was announced earlier this year.
The plan also says investments to the First Nations Roads program will continue as well as investing into remote First Nation airports.
Highlights of the plan for Northeastern Ontario include advancing design work for four-laning Highway 69, moving forward on a plan for passenger rail service in the region, and completing the environmental assessment and preliminary design for the Cochrane by-pass from Highway 11 to Highway 652 by the fall of 2023.
