Work continues on a 14 km stretch of four-laning Highway 69…but what about after that.

We spoke with Sudbury MPP Jamie West, former Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault, the owner of McKevitt Trucking and got a statement from the provincial government’s Minister of Transportation.

We wanted to hear where the project is at as well as speak to how important the project is to complete.

First we start with the Statement from the PC governments Minister of Transportation, John Yakabuski.

“Minister Yakabuski looks forward to receiving a briefing on next steps on this and other highway expansion projects as he settles into his role as the Minister of Transportation.  The new government has committed to a comprehensive line-by-line audit of government spending.  This will review all projects and spending committed to by the last government.

Work continues to four-lane a 14 km section south of Alban and realign the CN rail line at Highway 522.  This is a $200 million investment in Highway 69.  To date, 70 km have been constructed and the ministry has been working to complete engineering and get the needed property and environmental approvals for the remaining 68 km on the corridor.”

While the statement is can be viewed as a positive, Sudbury MPP Jamie West says in his short time at Queen’s Park, not a whole lot has been mentioned about the project.

West says he will be advocating for the project as much as he can.

John McKevitt owns McKevitt Trucking Limited, a 70-year old business with an office in Sudbury and a head office in Thunder Bay.

His company has drivers on the road daily and says the government should be focusing on this project for both safety and economic benefits, he called it a heavily traveled route with little room for error, so a full four lane stretch of the road would do both.

photo provided by Sudbury.com

 

Former Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault pushed for the project for those reasons and gave us a little insight of what was left with the project when he left office.

We’ve heard just how much the timeline for the project has changed over the years, and Thibeault said with all the factors involved it’s really difficult to say when it could be done.

The importance of the project is clear for the reasons stated in this story.

With the end so close in sight, we still have to take the wait and see approach.

The PC’s have majority government for the next four years, will the connector of Sudbury to Toronto be completed over that time?