Early work underway on North America’s first 2+1 highway pilot

Clearing is underway off Highway 11 for North America’s first 2+1 highway safety pilot. The 3-lane design with a median barrier aims to reduce fatalities.

Drivers along Highway 11 between North Bay and Temagami in recent weeks would have noticed clearing of an 11-kilometre stretch on the side of the road. The clear-cutting north of Sand Dam Road marks the early work on the province’s the 2+1 highway project, which is the first highway safety pilot of its kind in North America.

“It’s a new model of road that will make a big difference in northern Ontario,” said Mark Wilson, a resource member with Going the Extra Mile for Safety, also known as GEMS.

Ministry outlines purpose of clearing

Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation said the purpose of the clearing is to reconfigure and widen Highway 11 to accommodate the 2+1 roadway and rehabilitate other elements – including frost heaves and pavement in distress areas, as well as complete various operational improvements.

“You’ll see the logs on the side of the road. You’ll see the clearing being done. Of course, before that, all of the engineering and planning was done,” said Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli speaking with reporters at a news conference last month.

2 locations selected based on public input

The 2+1 pilot project is set in two places on Highway 11; from Sand Dam Road to Ellesmere Road and from Highway 64 north to Jumping Caribou Lake Road. The two locations were selected based on a site selection criteria report that received input from the public and the 2+1 Advancement Working Group.

This particular highway model is used in other jurisdictions around the world and is often considered more cost-efficient than twinning a highway. The design involves a three-lane configuration with a median barrier, turnarounds and signs. It will give drivers more chances to pass without widening the highway to four lanes.

“For parts of it going north, it’ll be two-lane versus one coming south and then it switches over to two-lane coming south and one going north,” Fedeli explained last month.

$600M for northern highways

The Ministry of Transportation said the provincial government is spending $600 million to build and repair northern roads, bridges and highways, including the Highway 11/17 corridor. The ministry reports that since 2024, the province has awarded more than 50 construction contracts worth over $450 million along Highways 11, 17 and 11/17.

“Design and environmental assessment work for both 2+1 highway pilot locations is underway, with tree clearing now in progress at the southern site (Sand Dam Road to Ellesmere Road),” said Dakota Brasier, director of media relations for the Honourable Prabmeet Sarkaria, Ontario’s Minister of Transportation, in a statement to CTV News.

“Utility relocation will … proceed, followed by construction,” Brasier added.

Foreign model shows safety improvements, cost efficiencies

First announced in 2021, the highway safety idea came from European countries like Sweden, which now has about 3,000 kilometres of 2+1 roads and continues to build more.

“When there’s difficult terrain, it’s easier to build a 2+1 road and still achieve very high safety outcomes,” Wilson said.

The transportation ministry retained infrastructure consulting and engineering firm AECOM Canada Ltd. to undertake the design and class environmental assessment study for the roadway model project.

“It can also be a model where we have significantly lower volumes than where we would need twinning,” said Wilson.

Official said studies have proven these roads have reduced fatality rates from 55 to 80 per cent, while improving travel times.

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