The provincial government’s five-year renovation program for the Noden Causeway will start this spring, Northern Development and Mines minister Michael Gravelle announced here last week.
“Certainly one of the issues of great importance to all of us here in the northwest, but particularly here in Fort Frances, is our highways and highway infrastructure, and it is that issue that brings me here today,” Gravelle said Thursday afternoon during an official announcement at the Civic Centre.
“The reason for our gathering today is the majestic Noden Causeway . . . and more particularly the future of the Noden Causeway,” he noted.
“I am pleased to announce that a $6.58-million contract has been awarded to Bruno’s Contracting of Thunder Bay to begin the reconstruction of the causeway,” added the Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP.
Work on the 138-metre “East Low Level” part of the causeway is scheduled for completion this fall, and will include a new widened deck and the replacement of the existing concrete barrier wall with a open steel railing system.
The Noden Causeway consists of three structures—the East Low Level, West Low Level, and High Level—comprising five, 19, and 20 spans, respectively.
Traffic will be reduced to single lane within the construction zone, and be controlled by portable traffic signals.
While this work is scheduled for completion by this autumn, Gravelle said it is important to reiterate it is only an important first step in the overall renovation of the Noden Causeway.
The province has committed, over the next five years, to reconstruct the entire causeway, including 1,120 steel piles and the entire deck.
“This will allow us to plan and deal with the work in stages with minimum disruption to road users and area communities, and I know that’s important,” Gravelle remarked.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the McGuinty government has consistently professed its understanding and appreciation for the importance of highway infrastructure like the Noden Causeway to the north’s economic well-being.
“And the record shows our government has been steadfast in our economic commitment to maintaining and upgrading the more than 1,100 km of provincial highways that cross the north.
“In the past four years, we’ve invested a record total of more than $1.3 billion through the Northern Highways Program in repair, expansion, and safety improvement projects.
“As a result, travellers on Northern Ontario’s highways have benefited from the expanded roads, improved services, increased passing lanes, and numerous other improvements,” Gravelle noted.
This year, the Ontario government has invested a record $557 million in the 2008-09 Northern Highways Program. That’s more than last year’s record amount of $468 million.
“What is also important to point out is that we are very cognizant of the need for this work to get moving forward on the Noden Causeway, and we are cognizant that over the life of this reconstruction, there will be substantial costs,” Gravelle said.
“I’m very pleased to say we were able to persuade the minister of finance in our government to take this financing and make it separate from the Northern Highways allocation, so no other projects will be hurt by the funding we need to find to make this project move forward.
“It’s an urgent project, it’s one that needs to move forward this year and subsequent years, and I’m delighted we were able to find the extra dollars to make this happen,” he added.
Gravelle said advancing highway infrastructure is an integral part of the Northern Prosperity Plan—a plan the McGuinty government has set in motion that has woven together a comprehensive range of provincial initiatives in the north to drive job creation, economic growth, and competitiveness.
“We are following up on these achievements by working with northerners to develop a Northern Growth Plan to focus on more sustainable economic growth for the north,” pledged Gravelle.
“An integral part of that plan will be continued investment in northern highway infrastructure to improve safety, spur business development, create jobs, and keep people and goods moving,” he explained.
Gravelle also recognized the historic importance of the causeway.
“When the Noden Causeway was officially opened in 1965, celebrating the completion of Highway 11 from Toronto to Rainy River, some highways were built to serve existing areas of population while others, such as this highway, were built with future development in mind,” he said.
“I think, at the time, people had a certain blind faith in the notion that a new highway would open doors to economic development.
“However, I don’t believe that anyone at that time could have imagined the extent of the prosperity this highway would and has created in this district over the past four decades,” Gravelle continued.
“It’s a vital, vital link. The causeway and the highway have brought us everything we could hope for and much, much more.
“It’s certainly a boon to the forestry industry and the tourism industries,” he stressed. “It’s vital to maintaining the prosperity of this region and for us looking forward through these very challenging times.
“Today, having reached middle age, the structure is in need of serious rejuvenation, and we are glad to be here to tell you we’re committing to make sure it happens.
“By announcing the first tender, the McGuinty government is signalling our intention to revitalize the causeway so it will continue serving the district for another four decades and beyond,” Gravelle said.
During Thursday’s ceremony, Mayor Roy Avis presented Gravelle with a Cher Pruys print depicting an airplane flying over the Noden Causeway.
“It gives me great pleasure to stand here and know our economic lifeline to the northeast of us has come to fruition, and we’ll be able to have it for years to come,” said Mayor Avis.
Aside from the undeniable economic benefits the causeway brings to the region, Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig noted the importance of “timely infrastructure refurbishment” has been underscored by events such as the bridge collapses in Minneapolis and Montreal in the past couple of years.
McCaig also noted he, Mayor Avis, deputy mayor Sharon Tibbs, and local MNDM officer Jane Gillon had lunched with Gravelle and his assistant, Anne-Marie Flanagan, earlier in the day to discuss local concerns and issues.
Work on the Noden Causeway first began in 1958 and was opened in 1965.
It was rehabilitated in the 1980s, with new barrier walls and joints. But in recent years, the causeway has demonstrated drainage problems, as well as poor pavement and joint conditions.
Fort Frances Times
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