THUNDER BAY – The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) made inroads on the highway safety file at a provincial conference this week, NOMA president Rick Dumas says.
Dumas, who is also the Town of Marathon’s mayor, told Newswatch he and other municipal officials from the region met with transportation ministry officials during the Aug. 17-20 Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference in Ottawa.
This year’s AMO conference “was a little bit unique because we had an opportunity to work with our sister agency, FONOM (the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities), and bring some concerns,” Dumas said.
Highway safety was among those concerns, he said.
All northern Ontario highway users “know what they’re like,” he said.
“We have continuing amounts of deaths on our highways, and we have two-lanes and … a lot of blind spots, sharp corners, hills, and you know we’ve got wildlife to contend with.”
NOMA and FONOM officials spoke with ministry representatives about the “2+1” highway system being developed for the North Bay area, Dumas said.
A 2+1 highway is a three-lane highway with a centre passing lane that changes direction every two to five kilometres. The province believes it improves highway safety in a more cost-efficient way than twinning highways.
The model “has been engineered and, I guess, environmentally assessed (in the North Bay area), but it hasn’t started construction. We want to fast-track that,” Dumas said.
“So they’ve announced that they’re going to start construction hopefully soon on that project.”
The pilot project is promising but “we know that it’s going to take a long time” just as the twinning of Highway 11/17 between Nipigon and Thunder Bay hasn’t been completed after many years, he said.
Dumas said the municipalities “made some really good inroads with” Transportation Minister Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria on highway safety.
More provincial police stop checks and more roadside weigh-scale hours for commercial vehicles were among the other safety issues discussed, he said.
The ministry made a commitment “to continue working with NOMA and FONOM to look at how we continue to build our highways in a safer, better way,” and to welcome municipal input in highway design for better safety, said Dumas.
NOMA delegates met with several Ontario cabinet ministers including Kevin Holland, the Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP who is associate minister of forestry and forest products. A news release from NOMA said that discussion topics other than highway safety included immigration, skills development and long-term funding stability for Confederation College.
“We were encouraged to see that our government partners are listening closely to NOMA’s advocacy and recognize the importance of advancing real solutions for the North,” Dumas said in the NOMA release.
Besides government ministers and officials, NOMA officials also met with provincial NDP and Liberal leaders, according to the release.
“Our municipalities face unique challenges, from vast geography to workforce shortages,” said Red Lake Mayor Fred Mota, NOMA’s executive vice-president. “It is critical that all parties recognize these realities and invest in the solutions that will drive economic growth and improve quality of life across the North.”
NOMA is the regional organization for northern municipalities from Kenora in the west to Hearst in the east. FONOM is an organization for more than 100 municipalities in northeastern Ontario.