A new approach to highway safety in the north got strong support from delegates at the 2024 Ontario Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting in Timmins recently.
During that gathering, the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce submitted two resolutions, both were backed by Northern Policy Institute (NPI) research.
The resolution promotes moving away from highway twinning by the province and moving to the wide adoption of the 2+1 model for northern and rural highways.
According to Charles Cirtwill President of Northern Policy Institute this would allow more rapid replacement of the old and dangerous two-lane system.
A 2+1 highway is a three-lane highway with a centre passing lane that changes direction approximately every two to five kilometres. The highway model is used in other jurisdictions around the world and is considered more cost-efficient than twinning a highway.
“If we continue to wait for twinned highways, it will be another generation, or two, before Northern Ontario is served by a safe, high-capacity road network worthy of being called a national highway.”
The Going the Extra Mile for Safety Committee of the Temiskaming Shores Chamber of Commerce has been exploring global experience with the 2+1 highway model since 2015. As a result of those efforts, the province announced in 2021 they would launch a pilot project to test the model on Highway 11 north of North Bay.
"Recent work by Northern Policy Institute concluded that given the similar safety records and capacity of 2+1 and twinned highways, and the significant cost and time savings of the 2+1 approach, the province should move to much more quickly expansion of the major highways in northern Ontario to 2+1 within the next decade," added Cirtwill.
“This first-of-its-kind highway pilot in North America will keep people and goods moving safely across Northern Ontario,” said Caroline Mulroney, Minister of Transportation back in 2022.
No physical work has yet been done as the project remains in the design stage.
The North Bay project on Highway 11 will extend from Sand Dam Road to Ellesmere Road, a length of 14 kilometres.
