NAIRN CENTRE—A deadly stretch of Highway 17 running from Wahnapitae to Regional Road 4 will be receiving more timely attention from winter maintenance crews following the announcement of a reclassification of that stretch of highway by the Ministry of Transportation (MTO).
The announcement is being hailed as a successful payoff for the group efforts of the LaCloche Foothills Municipal Association (LFMA) and local Ministry of Transportation staff.
In a news release from Nairn and Hyman Township Mayor Laurier Falldien announcing that the stretch of Highway 17 would be reclassified from a Class 2 to a Class 1 it was pointed out that the lobbying efforts also included support from former Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichuk and her council.
After reviewing traffic volumes, the MTO confirmed the change in classification was warranted and that it would implement the increased maintenance level for this winter.
“I would like to publically thank MTO Minister Del Duca and the local MTO staff for working together with our municipalities to make our Northern highways safer for our residents as well those who visit our communities during the winter months,” said Mayor Falldien in the press release following the announcement. “This change in classification of Highway 17 from Wahnapitae to Regional Road 4, also known as the Fairbanks turn off, will see shorter plow route times this winter.”
Under a Class 2 highway, the MTO snow clearing benchmark is set at having bare pavement within 16 hours of a storm ending, but with a reclassification to Class 1, that time is cut in half, requiring bare pavement within eight hours. Other Class 1 highways in Ontario include Hwy 401, the QEW and Highway 11.
The LFMA leaders are from the Township of Baldwin, Nairn and Hyman Township, Espanola and the Township of Sables-Spanish Rivers.
Mayor Falldien, who is the spokesperson for LFMA, said: “they are very pleased with the progress to date and will continue to work to see a similar change between Regional Road 4 and Walford.”
One Espanola businessman who is happy to see the change is James Bourcier, proprietor of Bourcier Funeral Homes Ltd in Espanola, whose business requires a lot of travel between Espanola and Sudbury along that stretch of Highway 17.
“You never get used to the slush,” he said, adding that recently “it has been good.”
Mr. Bourcier admitted that, over the years, he has also had to make a lot of trips to that stretch of highway to collect bodies from fatal accidents.
The change of classification of the stretch of Highway 17 will also see three additional plow trucks on the roads and those truck routes will be decreased from 2.2 hours to 1.6 hours.
Mayor Fallden noted that the work of the LFMA is far from over. “We are very pleased with the progress to date,” he said, but added that the LFMA “will continue to work to see similar change between Regional Road 4 and Walford.”
