THUNDER BAY — The City of Thunder Bay wants to be ready for whenever the Ontario government proceeds with making the Thunder Bay Expressway a four-lane divided route with interchanges.
This means it must update the decades-old plan for the Northwest Arterial Road, a proposed four-kilometre-long connection between Dawson Road and Golf Links Road.
After a transportation study nearly 40 years ago identified the future need for the new link, the city completed an environmental assessment study along a route from Dawson Road near Paquette Road, over the McIntyre River, and intersecting with the Thunder Bay Expressway before continuing to Golf Links Road.
Earlier this year, it commenced an update on the environmental assessment.
This week, it's holding a public open house to explain the changes that are being proposed from the last revision in 1992.
"There's some tweaks to general intersection, space and alignment configurations from '92 to today's standards," said Matthew Miedema, the city's director of engineering and operations.
"In terms of where the arterial ties into Pioneer Drive and Dawson Road, we want to make sure we have the appropriate space in between controlled intersections down the road, so that standard has changed...We're also looking at incorporating some active transportation routes and paths along the corridor."
Miedema also explained that, before the turn of the century, the northwest section of the city "was still kind of a rural setting," but "since then, it has definitely taken a more of an urban feel and look to it."
He said that while a rural environment could have seen open ditches, that area now requires curbs on the road, sidewalks, and possibly a multi-use path.
The plan will also need to reflect some environmental standards that have changed since the 1990s.
It's still uncertain when the revised scheme for the Northwest Arterial will actually be implemented.
"The real driver behind this is really the Ministry of Transportation's future plans on Highway 11/17," Miedema noted. "These projects really need to walk hand-in-hand, so to speak, as if one goes ahead, the other one's got to be ready to go."
The ministry's current long-range plan for transforming the Expressway into a divided highway with interchanges would also block access to the highway from John Street Road and from Oliver Road, and replace the intersections in those locations with flyovers.
"We, as a city, needed some kind of intermediate point to connect our residents, emergency vehicles, all sorts of reasons, to the highway...We need an immediate contact point. So that's where the arterial is that key link, when we lose John and Oliver," Miedema said.
Members of the public can find out more about the status of the Northwest Arterial at an open house on Dec. 4 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the 55 Plus Centre on River Street.
The city is also conducting a public survey online at thunderbay.ca/getinvolved.
