"Our strategic goal is the continued advancement of Highway 417. We think of it as a safety issue, a productivity issue, an economic development issue, and an issue for survival," declared Renfrew County's Peter Emon.
The former Renfrew County warden is driving the two-lane stretches west of his home district, trying to stir up support from municipal governments to put pressure on the provincial and federal governments to resume four-laning Highway 17.
There have also been calls recently to four lane Highway 11 North.
See: Temiskaming chamber, MP to push for Highway 11 four-laning
Emon appeared before City Council at Tuesday's regular meeting, and observed that the western progression of Highway 417 had "stalled in the Ottawa Valley," adding that it has taken "54 years to go 57 kilometres from the outside of Ottawa to the first quarter of Renfrew County."
The County of Renfrew is vast and has 17 municipalities within its borders, including Arnprior, Deep River, Laurentian Hills, and Petawawa. The county's population is in excess of 107,000, and its major industrial sectors include advanced manufacturing, agribusiness, forestry and wood processing, green energy, mining, and tourism.
Emon noted that a Highway 417, connecting Renfrew County to North Bay, Sudbury and beyond would be an economic driver for the regions along the route, as four-laning would help lessen the problem of transport truck volume along the 401 corridor by providing another option for the transporting of goods from the shipping ports to the north and the rest of Canada.
"We suggest to the government that alleviating the congestion in the 401 corridor is expensive. Why ship as much traffic down there as you can, when you have this perfectly economical route in Highway 417?" observed Emon.
"We mirror the north," in an industrial and business sense, "and we feel we are quite compatible with your community and with Northern Ontario in terms of the same interests and the same desires for the expansion of the highway," presented Emon to Council. Emon added that CP and CN railways are no longer servicing the communities in his district. There is no rail traffic in the area.
Emon and his group are asking for support from municipalities to get the ball rolling with the project. The next 22-kilometre segment of four-laning would bring the 417 to Renfrew, at a cost of $165 million. According to Emon, due to the number of interchanges and bridges necessary the project could be completed in as few as four years (construction estimate) or as many as 10 (government estimate).
Our position is "you've got 90 to 95 per cent of the property purchased, you've got all of the design work done, you should be funding this and moving forward. At the same time when you're doing this and completing it, start planning out acquiring the property and fulfilling the environmental assessments for the remainder of the package through to North Bay."
Coun. Tanya Vrebosch asked Emon about the improved safety factors of four-laning, who responded, "We call it an 'unforgiving highway.' If you're on a four-lane highway and you lose attention, you go down to the median, you might bounce around a bit, tear off some plastic. But [on a two-lane highway] if you make a mistake, you're into the front of another truck. That's the safety issue."
A realistic timeline to see the four-laning advance the additional 270 kilometres from Renfrew to North Bay was of interest to Coun. Derek Shogren. "If we're looking at four-laning North Bay to Kanata, this is a long-term 25-year program?" he asked.
"I would think so, unless they made it a project of national significance, because it is a part of the national highway system, and made a dedicated effort to have a number of projects along the way, at the same time," responded Emon.
Coun. Chris Mayne inquired as to whether the four-laning and possible re-routing of the highway around small towns that currently sit on the highway had been addressed, in particular when it came to Mattawa. Emon noted that all of the towns along the route were on board with the project, but that although he planned to meet with Mattawa officials, he had not done so yet.
A medium-length motion brought forward by Coun. Mac Bain, and seconded by Shogren, was read, and passed unanimously (Coun. Jeff Serran was absent), supporting the four-laning of Highway 17.
