TCH east of Nipigon (La route transcanadienne à l'est de Nipigon)

[Dengler Avenue]

Horwath promises to deprivatize highway maintenance. Given the province’s financial state, how likely is she gonna come through with that promise?

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Horwath promises to deprivatize highway maintenance. Given the province’s financial state, how likely is she gonna come through with that promise?

You say that like we should just let things continue to get worse.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Horwath promises to deprivatize highway maintenance. Given the province’s financial state, how likely is she gonna come through with that promise?

The NDP has promised that for a long time. It's not just maintenance but inspection as well that it done by private companies who get the contract for certain highways or regions.

I agree that MTO employees should be doing it. I've heard that the contracts today aren't really saving any money at all. Also, I've seen a number of highways in my region neglected during times of heavy snow. And that includes Hwy 101 within the city limits of Timmins! (not the connecting link portion)

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Loco101

The NDP has promised that for a long time. It's not just maintenance but inspection as well that it done by private companies who get the contract for certain highways or regions.

I agree that MTO employees should be doing it. I've heard that the contracts today aren't really saving any money at all. Also, I've seen a number of highways in my region neglected during times of heavy snow. And that includes Hwy 101 within the city limits of Timmins! (not the connecting link portion)

Sudbury too.
Every snowfall this year there has been a road closure on either 11, 17, 69 or 144.

[Dengler Avenue]

Yea, it will be the day, when we don't see closure on TCH due to weather and/or fatal crashes at those chronic bad spots.

[vid]

The only reason privatization saves money is because the employees are paid less and receive fewer benefits. The contractor's employees might be privately employed, but the client is the taxpayer and that taxpayer money is what pays them at the end of the day. If our highways aren't properly maintained, we have to ask ourselves, are we getting what we're paying for? Do those doing the work deserve better pay? Is it fair to taxpayers that a percentage of our tax dollars dedicated to highway maintenance are instead diverted to dividends of a private (now bankrupt) UK corporation?

[Dengler Avenue]

I suppose that you all know who to vote for then.

[vid]

I have found that the longer I am employed, and the more money I make, the more socialist I become. But at the same time I'm more involved in agencies that help me understand how non-profit and government budgets work, and unfortunately for Ford, they're far more complicated than he thinks.

[F. Lionel]

Another fatality on 11/17 yesterday...

The intersection of Spruce River Rd (Highway 527) is, hopefully, the first intersection that gets grade separated after the rest of 11/17 is divided. This section of the TC is already divided but this intersection is one of the worst for drivers taking a chance getting across the TC in my experience. The approaches have poor sight lines from the south and the north. East-west has a lot of visibility but there are a lot of trucks and RVs that navigate this intersection and a lot of smaller vehicles take a chance when they try to rush across.

I'm honestly surprised that there haven't been more fatalities here.

[Dengler Avenue]

I'm surprised that no intersections were grade-separated east of Hodler Avenue (and I'm not taking lack of funding as a reason by this point because so much seems to have shown otherwise).

This is not the first time that cars trying to take a chance to cross TCH have wrecked havoc too. There was one last summer, the accident was so serious that OPP had to detour one side of traffic onto Lakeshore Drive.

[vid]

Everything is based on traffic volumes. Everything from "can we put a four way stop in front of the school" to "can we have a safe, free flow interchange here" is based on numbers.

Those intersections don't have the numbers. A few fatal accidents a year is cheaper than an interchange.

[Dengler Avenue]

What shall be done to chronic bad spots like 11 near Temagami (many fatal accidents) then, where AADT is low?

[vid]

As far as the policy is concerned, nothing. Unless it will help a government MPP get re-elected, that is.

It's nearly impossible to prove but I can assure you the reason the highway between Thunder Bay and Nipigon is getting twinned is because Michael Gravelle is being rewarded for his repeated victories.

[Dengler Avenue]

Here's the thing about the first point, though:
For Highway 3 between Windsor and Leamington, a lawyer in the area said that the government could be held liable for the havoc on that highway. Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/on...e-highway-three-crashes-lawyer-1.4599334.

If fatalities continue to happen, especially at the same spots again and again, I think the government and/or the maintenance crew should be held liable to them. When the legal risks begin to soar, perhaps the government will move into action.

[F. Lionel]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

If fatalities continue to happen, especially at the same spots again and again, I think the government and/or the maintenance crew should be held liable to them. When the legal risks begin to soar, perhaps the government will move into action.

To be fair this is what happened at Copenhagen Rd. Another fatality is what led to that grade separation. Sadly... I hope that this is the key to start the grade separation process at least at Spruce River Rd. Perhaps a case could be made to start the process at Pass Lake as well.

Even if we can't have complete grade separation everywhere a reduction of highway access should be the goal. There is an excellent stretch between Pass Lake and Lakeshore Drive that would be a great candidate for an access road on the west side to connect the driveways. A case could also be made for an access road to eliminate the need for the highway access at Nelson Rd on the east side.

The political motivation to twin 11/17 came as a result of many successive wins by the local Liberal candidate who made Thunder Bay-Nipigon a "safe" Liberal seat. While this is not something official it has to be noted that prior to his successive wins there was no political motivation to push the twinning of the highway despite a large grass-roots organization and push. There are still a large number of cars in the city sporting "Twinning Highways Saves Lives" bumper stickers which were sold to held finance the campaign.

I still struggle to see how they are planning to have the rest of the route twinned in its entirety within 5 years. 3 segments haven't even gone to detail design yet. One segment starts construction this year and 3 start next year. There are still 3 major river crossings and one rail crossing to be built along with the completed approaches to the unfinished Nipigon River Bridge, not to mention incomplete property acquisitions along some stretches.

The biggest problem is that there is not an unlimited well of money to fund all of this AND proceed with the very necessary upgrades to the Thunder Bay expressway AND continue the building of the new highway to Shabaqua AND consider major upgrades on 11 or 17 either to the east or west. The political will is not there, the votes are not there, the population is not there BUT the deaths and accidents are. The provincial Libs saying that twinning across ALL of Ontario is part of their platform is welcome but sadly too little too late. I fear it is the last gasp of a dying party falling on the deaf ears of apathetic voters.

[Loco101]

Copenhagen Road was in the Amber Alert I received a couple of days ago on my phone. Thunder Bay is further from here than Toronto or Ottawa yet we received the Alert.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by vid

The only reason privatization saves money is because the employees are paid less and receive fewer benefits. The contractor's employees might be privately employed, but the client is the taxpayer and that taxpayer money is what pays them at the end of the day. If our highways aren't properly maintained, we have to ask ourselves, are we getting what we're paying for? Do those doing the work deserve better pay? Is it fair to taxpayers that a percentage of our tax dollars dedicated to highway maintenance are instead diverted to dividends of a private (now bankrupt) UK corporation?

I know a snowplow operator who tells me that he actually have ended up being paid more than when he worked for the MTO. Not sure if the benefits package is the same but that took me by surprise. They do get benefits though. And many of the contractos, if not almost all of them are unionized operations where the employees are part of OPSEU. The guy I know tells me that it's not a job that a lot of people want and that it requires skill and whatever else so good operators are in high demand in this region.

I really don't know if money was saved but it's a way of the government trying to remove itself from responsibility.

[F. Lionel]

Originally Posted by Loco101

Copenhagen Road was in the Amber Alert I received a couple of days ago on my phone. Thunder Bay is further from here than Toronto or Ottawa yet we received the Alert.

True Story - I was pulling off the highway onto Copenhagen Rd when the Alert came over the radio but it never arrived at my own phone. There is a plow turn around just north of the overpass that was full of OPP SUVs and the road was fully blocked.

Me thinks the system still needs some work...

[vid]

Originally Posted by F. Lionel

True Story - I was pulling off the highway onto Copenhagen Rd when the Alert came over the radio but it never arrived at my own phone. There is a plow turn around just north of the overpass that was full of OPP SUVs and the road was fully blocked.

Me thinks the system still needs some work...

The woman who was the subject of it probably heard it too when she was driving by a Tim Hortons and dumped the kid there, two others have since been charged in association with this. Some kind of custody dispute.

TBayTel identified the issue that prevented people from getting the alert but can't test it on their own, so we're going to have to wait until something like another amber alert or severe thunderstorm warning to see if it works.

I got woken up in the middle of the night last summer because of an amber alert in Mississauga coming on the radio, so we're even now. Not only did it happen at 4am, but they repeated it every 9 minutes for over an hour.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by F. Lionel

True Story - I was pulling off the highway onto Copenhagen Rd when the Alert came over the radio but it never arrived at my own phone. There is a plow turn around just north of the overpass that was full of OPP SUVs and the road was fully blocked.

Me thinks the system still needs some work...

Wow, what are the odds of that!! Glad it turned out okay for that child.

My phone is with Eastlink and I have received all of the alerts.