PavelS / Depositphotos.com
The provincial NDP would like to see the $30 million inspection station in Shuniah opened more often to improve transportation safety.
The station was built as part of the Ford government’s plan to improve northern Ontario’s road safety and transit infrastructure.
“It’s simply not open enough often enough and I don’t believe they have the staff to do it,” Said Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP, Lise Vaugeois. “One of the important things about that station is that people can’t avoid it, right? If you are driving west on 11/17, there is no alternate route, you have to pass by that station, so it makes a lot of sense for that station to be open a lot more than it is.”
They would also like to see more equity when it comes to the plowing of roads in the winter, highlighting the fact that Highway 11/17 does not receive the same attention 400 series highways do.
Other concerns include the lack of passing lanes or a suitable shoulder on stretches of the highway.
“In a northern community and where the infrastructure is not very good. Lots of places have no sidewalks, can be extremely cold, kids are having to walk along the highway in places or having to cross the highway,” added Vaugeois. “Lots of those things are simply not safe.”
The provincial NDP will have their say when the provincial legislature resumes on Monday.
