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

[Dengler Avenue]

Time to straighten that stretch and put in a median barrier. Malahat style.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Time to straighten that stretch and put in a median barrier. Malahat style.

Why? It is the idiot truckers who cannot drive that are the problem.

I wonder if this will make it on the Rescue 401 tv show....

[Dengler Avenue]

A solution will be to have a cop at the beginning of each curve to watch errant drivers. However, AFAIK OPP operates out of either Tri-town or North Bay, both of which are far from Temagami. The same probably goes for MTO personnels.

As for your 2nd point, perhaps any such coverage on 11/17/69 will finally bring to light the problems facing those routes. People in Southern Ontario really need to realize that you guys really put your lives on the line going to work everyday. (I mean, head-on collisions happen on 2-lane undivided highways in the south too, but in the north they almost always involve trucks, not so much in the south.) You will need to ask the heads of OPP NER and of OPP NWR though. If they say yes, and that documentaries do come out, I’ll make sure to watch and share it.

Then, there’s less opposition to twinning 11 and 17 and 69. (Or just push it through with political will. Not a notwithstanding clause though.)

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

A solution will be to have a cop at the beginning of each curve to watch errant drivers. However, AFAIK OPP operates out of either Tri-town or North Bay, both of which are far from Temagami. The same probably goes for MTO personnels.

As for your 2nd point, perhaps any such coverage on 11/17/69 will finally bring to light the problems facing those routes. People in Southern Ontario really need to realize that you guys really put your lives on the line going to work everyday. (I mean, head-on collisions happen on 2-lane undivided highways in the south too, but in the north they almost always involve trucks, not so much in the south.) You will need to ask the heads of OPP NER and of OPP NWR though. If they say yes, and that documentaries do come out, I’ll make sure to watch and share it.

Then, there’s less opposition to twinning 11 and 17 and 69. (Or just push it through with political will. Not a notwithstanding clause though.)

There is a small OPP detachment in Temagami although I'm pretty sure that most of the OPP cars along Hwy 11 in that area are out of the Temiskaming Shores detachment. (Tem-Shores is much closer than North Bay)

[Dengler Avenue]

Perhaps where OPP’s absent, MTO should fill in the gap.

[Dengler Avenue]

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/...wcm/812ccbfc-0bfe-44bc-864b-323eb0a7d74e

Manitobans say that MB has been waiting ON to do the twinning so both can start simultaneously. Once done, it will be nice to travel across the Prairies (more like from west of Kenora to Golden, BC) on a contiguous 4-lane divided freeway (albeit with traffic lights here and there due to their inaction).

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Perhaps where OPP’s absent, MTO should fill in the gap.

The OPP isn't absent in that area. The MTO doesn't do speed enforcement.

[Dengler Avenue]

Has Québec (especially Abitibi-Témiscamingue) ever complained about Ontario dumping all the traffic onto QC 101 whenever ON 11 is closed? It’d be funny if twinning of 11 goes as far as Earlton (Tri-town bypass needs to be extended) or Englehart because QC pressures ON into doing so.

“Élargissez votre route! Nous ne voulons pas votre achalandage lourd!!” (“Widen your highway! We don’t want your truck traffic!!”)

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Has Québec (especially Abitibi-Témiscamingue) ever complained about Ontario dumping all the traffic onto QC 101 whenever ON 11 is closed? It’d be funny if twinning of 11 goes as far as Earlton (Tri-town bypass needs to be extended) or Englehart because QC pressures ON into doing so.

“Élargissez votre route! Nous ne voulons pas votre achalandage lourd!!” (“Widen your highway! We don’t want your truck traffic!!”)

I remember when the bridge in Latchford collapsed in January 2003. Many of the transport trucks used QC 101. Many of the transports were in fact stopped and ticketed for the first few days. I believe both large trucks and buses need to have a valid permit to travel there. That's why you'll often see registration numbers for various jurisdictions on those vehicles.

But the Ontario Government / MTO asked the Quebec government and MTQ for permission for all transport trucks to use Route 101 and permission was granted and previous tickets were discarded. And that was when a pro-sovereignty PQ government was still in power.

I have to add that my region has always had very good relations with the neighbouring part of Quebec (Abitibi-Témiscamingue).

[Dengler Avenue]

https://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/...or-nault-with-parliament-back-in-session

Is Nault (and probably Rickford) vocal about it now, "well before" the completion of Freedom Road (Shoal Lake 40) in June 2019, so the feds know what's coming their way in 9 months? I can't think of any other reason.

[Dengler Avenue]

https://www.tbnewswatch.com/local-news/f...ver-emergency-crossings-4-photos-1045098 (9 days ago)

[Dengler Avenue]

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=212774&page=34 #665

Why doesn't Ontario Northland Rail consider the same thing, reinstate tracks between Constance Lake and Nipigon and do it? I can see some money coming in. Also, people will be happier if trucks are by and large taken off Highway 11.

[wave46]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=212774&page=34 #665

Why doesn't Ontario Northland Rail consider the same thing, reinstate tracks between Constance Lake and Nipigon and do it? I can see some money coming in. Also, people will be happier if trucks are by and large taken off Highway 11.

There are already two sets of tracks between Southern Ontario and Northern Ontario (or Eastern and Western Canada) on CP and CN. What would a third set do, other than waste money?

You could mandate that all long-haul trucking should use rail, I guess. Then prepare for the screaming of the trucking lobby and the railways being forced to accommodate more stops, destroying profitability.

Rail is most efficient for bulk loads between large centres. Using it to deliver groceries to Iroquois Falls is madness.

[vid]

Delivering groceries to Iroquois Falls isn't longhaul trucking, it's probably even LTL considering the size of the place. The only destination for longhaul in Northwestern Ontario is Thunder Bay. Everything goes to Thunder Bay then gets backhauled to Fort Frances and Dryden, where it's broken down further into smaller loads to go to more remote communities. Longhaul truckers aren't stopping in places like Iroquois Falls. Kenora is supplied directly from Winnipeg but that's not longhaul, that's a day trip. Thunder Bay-Fort Frances is a day trip and it's three times as far.

[Dengler Avenue]

Wait what? I thought it’s only 243 km between Kenora and Winnipeg and 280 km between T Bay and Fort Frances.

[vid]

Yes, and Fort Frances and Dryden receive many things from Winnipeg, but the also receive a lot of things from Thunder Bay and generally represent the western extent of Thunder Bay's economic sphere of influence.

Longhaul trips in this region are between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg. The trips between either centre and Fort Frances or Dryden is a day trip, not long haul. Trucks leave Thunder Bay in the morning, get to Fort Frances or Dryden at lunch, then turn around and return to Thunder Bay in the evening. I guess that can count as longhaul? I'm not a trucker.

[Dengler Avenue]

https://www.sootoday.com/local-news/washout-at-old-woman-bay-closes-highway-17-1080353

Alright, it seems that Wawa and Chapleau are completely cut off from SSM.

Update: https://www.sootoday.com/opp-beat/northern-highways-remain-closed-due-to-washouts-1080560

17 and 101 are both opened to one-lane (possibly alternating) traffic as of half an hour ago.

[sonysnob]

Cavers hill is one of the most significant grades along Highway 17 between Nipigon and Sault Ste. Marie. Over the past five or so years the cut has been widened significantly improving the sight-lines and probably the drainage as well.

2012:


2018:

[Dengler Avenue]

I can see the improvement. It's sad though that almost all the time, MTO added passing lanes and sacrificed shoulders.

By the way, it's improvements like this that make me think that, if MTO really wants, it can actually quietly 4-lane parts of 11 and/or 17.

[sonysnob]

Continued incremental upgrades of the highway seem more likely than your proposal.

From what I've gathered, the MTO is going to reconstruct Highway 17 east of Pays Plat towards Rossport starting next year. The contract makes reference to the addition of a new passing lane at Pays Plat (Flat Place). I'm not sure if this is going to be an eastbound climbing lane out of Pays Plat or a westbound climbing lane out of Rossport.

Such a passing lane would require a large amount of rock to be blasted from the side of the highway (similar to what was done at Cavers in my post above). The MTO has long desired adding a westbound passing lane to ascend Cavers Hill west of Pays Plat as well. Presumably the rock that is removed from the Pays Plat climbing lane will be moved westerly to facilitate an uphill climbing lane at Cavers in the future.