Ontario funding for Highway 11, northern roads
Angler Hill just west of Marathon, April 26th 2022 Photo: Facebook Hwy 11/17 Kill People
The Ontario government has announced funding for major transportation projects across northern Ontario on April 22nd.
The funding includes $3 million is the reconstruction of Highway 11 in Kapuskasing. The money will be spent on the highway from Service Master to Caron Street, the province said in a news release.
An additional $3 million will be spent on Highway 6 in Espanola, reconstructing Centre Street from 2nd Avenue to the McDonald’s entrance.
In its Draft Transportation Plan for Northern Ontario, Ontario listed “advancing highway widening projects including sections of Highway 69, Highway 11/17 and Highway 17” as its first priority.
“We recognize that the North has unique transportation challenges,” says Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney in the plan’s message, listing “vast distances between communities, winter storms and the natural landscape” as three of the top issues.
Richard Deschamps, one of the founding members of the Facebook page “Highway 11/17 Kills People” identified two major issues that need to be corrected to improve safety on Ontario’s crucial northern highways: truck driver training programs in which drivers are licensed in southern Ontario, and then allowed to drive in northern Ontario where they are completely unfamiliar with winter road conditions; and the physical maintenance and infrastructure of the highway.
“Basically, we are asking Ontario to admit there is a problem, and to do something about it,” Deschamp told Road Warrior News earlier this year.
Deschamps, working with two of his friends, created a stir when he launched a petition in December entitled, “Working Together for a Better and Safer Highway.” The petition, on change.org, quickly met its original goal of 15,000 signatures and is now aiming for 25,000.
