Council gives green light to redesign of Algonquin intersection

North Bay City Council has approved a $1.668-million contract for the redesign and reconfiguration of the Algonquin Avenue-Front Street-Jane Street intersection, one of the city's most frequent sites of collisions in recent years.

Miller Paving Limited was awarded the contract during Tuesday's regular meeting for intersection widening, the construction of opposing left turn lanes on Algonquin, the reconfiguration of the existing traffic signals, the rehabilitation of the surface asphalt, and the relocation of the Algonquin Regiment Memorial Monument and flagpole to Memorial Park between First West and Second West.

"This has been an area of concern, it is the perfect storm of high pedestrian traffic from the adjacent high school with high traffic volumes on Algonquin, Jane, and Front," said Coun. Chris Mayne, who chairs the infrastructure and operations committee.

See related: City flags notorious intersection for reconfiguration

Work is expected to begin in September and carry over into 2023.

"The only people who are going to miss it will be the local collision shops," Mayne later added. "It has been an area with a high level of incidents."

The City has been planning for the intersection improvements since 2018 when Council discussed the staff-generated Algonquin Avenue Traffic Study.

While poor driving habits are to blame for many of the collisions, according to the associated staff report, obstructed sightlines are also a factor.  "Due to the high volume of recorded traffic accidents at the Algonquin-Front-Jane intersection, the City of North Bay has undertaken a redesign of the intersection to reduce the number of conflicts between both vehicles and pedestrians."

Coun. Mac Bain supported the motion, noting the numerous collisions at the intersection and the constant presence of pedestrians in the crosswalks, many from the neighbouring secondary school, makes it important to do "anything that we can do to make that area safer for pedestrians, safer for the traffic that goes through."

Bain added, "We haven't spent a great deal of money. This is a complete redesign and it will go a long way to reduce," the number of collisions.