OLIVER PAIPOONGE — Municipal leaders in Conmee and Oliver Paipoonge say they plan to press the province to beef up road-safety measures on Highway 11-17 following approval of a Thunder Bay bylaw that aims to divert heavy transport-truck traffic away from two major city roads.
In an 8-5 vote on Monday, city council voted to approve the long-debated designated truck route plan, which will require big trucks that might normally use Thunder Bay’s Dawson Road and Arthur Street to stick to Highway 11-17.
The move intends to increase safety and congestion on the two city routes, but critics of the plan, including Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Kevin Holland, say it could redirect an estimated 1,300 trucks per day “onto a single route (Highway 11-17),” including the Thunder Bay Expressway.
Mayor Ken Boshcoff was among the five dissenters in Monday’s council vote.
The bylaw is to take effect sometime this fall, but there is no specific start date as yet.
“We’re still figuring out education, signage, etc.” a city spokesman said on Tuesday.
Both Oliver Paipoonge and Conmee have long contended the designated truck route would significantly increase the number of large transports on Highway 11-17, particularly as the route goes through Kakabeka Falls.
Oliver Paipoonge Mayor Lucy Kloosterhuis, who said she was “disappointed” by Monday’s vote at Thunder Bay city hall, said the Ministry of Transportation will have to seriously look at installing traffic lights in Kakabeka Falls, which is home to a school and seniors home.
“We’ve talked to the MTO many times about this, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens” Kloosterhuis said on Tuesday.
Highway 11-17 sight-lines before and after vehicles pass through Kakabeka Falls are often poor, Kloosterhuis said.
“There are some very dangerous sections,” she said.
Conmee Mayor Sheila Maxwell echoed Kloosterhuis’ concerns. She said she plans to request a meeting with Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria.
“I would like to see what the provincial government’s involvement will be,” Maxwell said. “How they plan (to deal with re-routed traffic) is going to be interesting to see.”
Currently, many heavy cross-country transports bypass Thunder Bay by travelling on Highway 102. After reaching the end of Dawson Road, the speed limit increases to 90 km/h.
Jena Curtis, who operates a Highway 102 gas station and convenience store, said she won’t be disappointed to see fewer trucks on that route, even though it could mean a slight drop in business.
“It would be great thing for safety,” said Curtis, who added it’s not unusual to see big trucks on Highway 102 fail to stop for school buses, even when their emergency lights are flashing.
Like many secondary roads, Highway 102 contains winding sections and blind corners, which can pose a hazard for school buses.
Ryan Vanderwees, who lives on a side road that connects to 102, said earlier MTO is likely well aware of the concerns residents and motorists like him have raised.
“The speed limit is 90, but let’s face it, people travel at more than 100, and then you come around a corner and there’s a stopped school bus,” Vanderwees said.
Holland said there are better alternatives to address heavy transport flow than the one Thunder Bay city council has chosen.
Options include the province’s plan “to advance both the Shabaqua Extension and the Arterial Road — long-term, meaningful infrastructure solutions that will help address truck traffic and improve safety on our highways,” Holland said in a news release.
Last year, MTO conducted a survey to “be used in (a) preliminary analysis to identify potential issues or improvements along the (102) corridor.”
One section of the survey asked respondents if they’d been involved in a collision or near-miss on 102, or know of such an occurrence.
It wasn’t immediately known if the survey results have been made public.
The Chronicle-Journal / Local Journalism Initiative
