THUNDER BAY — Nearly 40 years after a transportation study identified the need for a new road linking Golf Links Road with Dawson Road, there's still no timetable for construction.
But the city wants to ensure the plans for the Northwest Arterial – first recommended in 1987 – are kept up-to-date, so it can be as close to shovel-ready as possible should a decision ever be made to proceed.
It's now looking for a consultant to review provincial, federal and municipal laws and policies to ensure the project would meet all current environmental protection requirements.
The consultant will also update cost estimates and the preferred approach to construction, including recommendations for phasing of the work.
The city has already acquired much of the land required along a route from the Dawson Road/Paquette Road intersection to Golf Links Road – near where two new apartment buildings are currently under construction adjacent to the River Terrace subdivision.
"Over the years, the city has been proceeding on purchasing the property," said Matt Miedema, a project engineer with the city.
"As we have willing sellers, we would purchase the chunk. So we do have a good portion of that reserved for this road. There are a few holdups that we still need to purchase property from."
Miedema said the primary driver of the Northwest Arterial is to help encourage development in the northwest area of the city by providing a more direct connection to the intercity area.
When the new link gets built rests largely on when the Ontario government goes ahead with upgrades to the Thunder Bay Expressway.
Miedema said once the province "does proceed with dividing Highway 11/17 through the city, given all the intersections and putting in interchanges and such throughout, the need for the Northwest Arterial is a priority.
"It's still subject to further political approvals, but they're proceeding in their steps. We're just kind of trying to maintain our process and make sure we kind of keep pace."
Miedema said the city is closely tied to the highway work because, with a divided highway, "John Street Road would be a fly-over, so there's no access for any people in that area."
"Oliver Road would also be a fly-over. It's a large portion of the city that we cut off with access to 11/17. This northwest arterial then functions as a middle point and gets the northwest portion of the city to the intercity area. It helps our residents with access."
Miedema acknowledged there's no announced start date, but said "obviously, if they get a green light in five years, we want to be prepared because it's a lengthy process to go through an environmental study. Our current 1992 one is out-of-date, as you can appreciate."
