SHABAQUA — The province says it is working to “expand” a section of the Highway 11/17 corridor and that’s welcome news to Rick Dumas.
The president of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association was reacting to part of a provincial announcement highlighting work it says it is doing and planning around northern highway safety. The media release included a point that work is underway “advancing preliminary design work to expand Highway 11/17 between Thunder Bay and Shabaqua.”
That, the province said, includes a public meeting in “spring 2026.”
“This is the beginning of the process, obviously, and it’s about the dialogue with the people, especially in the area that’s being impacted,” Dumas said.
“We’re excited and, what we also shared with the government, is we don’t want to see things being done over three to four years,” Dumas continued. “We want to have the public open house, get it done, get the design done, start the work so that we can actually see people doing the work.”
Newswatch has requested comment from the Ministry of Transportation, or MTO.
A website with contacts for both the ministry and consultant WSP Canada Inc. dedicated to ongoing planning for work to four-lane Highway 11/17 between the Thunder Bay Expressway and Kakabeka Falls says work on that specific section is “a part of MTO’s larger plan to construct a four-lane divided highway between Thunder Bay and Shabaqua Corners.”
“To address current and future transportation needs in this area, MTO has completed several planning studies, ranging back to the 1970s, that determined a four-lane divided controlled access highway is needed,” the page says.
Officials with the Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge have spoken out over a potential proposed realignment of a section of the highway that would take it right through the community’s existing landfill.
Mayor Lucy Kloosterhuis has told Newswatch that the local council is prepared to take the issue to court.
The final route hasn’t been determined, an MTO spokesperson told Dougall Media in February
Northern highway safety has been a much-discussed topic this winter, with at least 11 deaths on the Trans-Canada Highway between the Thunder Bay area and just east of Hearst since mid-December, 2025.
It was the focus of a nearly 4,000-kilometre road trip by New Democrat MPPs Sol Mamakwa (Kiiwetinoong), John Vanthof (Timiskaming-Cochrane) and Guy Bourgouin (Mushkegowuk-James Bay), including an open house in Thunder Bay on March 9.
Vanthof has pledged to table a motion when the Ontario legislature resumes, calling for the Trans-Canada corridors through northern Ontario to be “a project of provincial significance,” and, in turn, for the provincial government to work with Ottawa to make it a national priority.
Dumas has requested a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney and other senior ministers advocating for defence spending from Ottawa be used to improve the Trans-Canada through northern Ontario.
Progressive Conservative Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Kevin Holland said he continues to advocate for improving highway safety.
In its Friday media release, Northern Economic Development and Growth Minister George Pirie was quoted as saying that the Ford government “is keenly aware how important safe roads, bridges and highways are to the residents, visitors and businesses in the north who rely on them daily.”
It listed a series of steps the province said it is taking to make improvements, including more enforcement officers and blitzes, improving highway signage, upgrading rest areas in the north and continuing work with stakeholders like NOMA and its sister organization that represents northeastern municipalities.
Dumas said his organization continues to speak with provincial officials about the highway safety issue.
“We’re excited to see that they’re looking and listening to the requests that we’re putting in front, but also we want to continue to have dialogue,” he said.
-With files from Sheri Leviski-Kotyk
