COBALT - Cobalt council has added its voice to the rising chorus of northern Ontario municipalities supporting the campaign to multi-lane Highway 11.
At its regular council meeting on December 9, council endorsed a resolution from the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) for a "phased implementation of a 2+1 highway program on Highways 17 and 11 as a nation-building project."
Proponents say the 2+1 highway design - alternating passing lanes with a continuous median barrier - comes with a substantially lower cost, with fewer land and environmental impacts than four-laning. The system can then be scaled or converted to four lanes as volumes grow.
"It's delightful to see it coming," Councillor Doug Wilcox said of the initiative, which FONOM is proposing as a federal nation-building initiative.
"It saves lives, and it reduces costs."
Deputy Mayor Pat Anderson lauded the City of Temiskaming Shores for helping champion the project. City Councillor Danny Whalen, the former president of FONOM, has been particularly instrumental in driving support.
"We thank the people of Temiskaming Shores, they just pushed and pushed," she said.
The FONOM resolution notes the provincial government has announced a 2+1 pilot project between North Bay and Temagami and a further extension toward Cochrane, creating a near-term implementation pathway.
FONOM says it has demonstrated high freight demand on these routes and strong safety/economic rationale for a 2+1 program. The phased-in proposal calls for prioritizing Highway 11 (North Bay-Cochrane, then Cochrane-Nipigon) and key sections of Highway 17 (western border of County of Renfrew- Sudbury; Sault Ste. Marie-Sudbury; Thunder Bay-Kenora).
The project "aligns with nation-building criteria, supports economic reconciliation with Indigenous partners, and enables integrated EV charging and low-carbon construction practices," FONOM adds in its resolution.
The resolution further calls on the federal government to designate this initiative as a project of national interest under the Building Canada Act and to partner with Ontario to co-fund and accelerate planning, design, procurement, and construction.
Joe O’Grady is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter with the Temiskaming Speaker. LJI is funded by the Government of Canada.