Road to prosperity paved with provincial support. (Special Report: Construction/Commercial Real Estate & Lending Guide).

When a four-lane highway was extended into the Town of Huntsville 20 years ago, it evolved into more than an improved transportation link to Toronto, it became an economic lifeline.

Nestled in the heart of Muskoka's cottage country, the town relies on tourists, seasonal residents and festival traffic as its main economic engine and four-lane highway access has swelled population figures with new residents working in the retail and service industry.

"It's fair to say the highway has had a major effect in growing our town a great deal," says Huntsville Mayor Hugh Mackenzie, "and we're projected to grow more so in the next number of years."

While most towns and cities in Northern Ontario experienced double-digit population loss in recent years, Huntsville's population has grown 8.9 per cent from 15,918 in 1996 to 17,338 in 2001.

"The tourist trade is our base of economic income and to have a major highway to its doorstep is very important.

"Our tourist industry is expanding a great deal with three new golf courses of tournament quality and we have a number of other tourist-oriented industries that have sprung up. So our community is strong and so people move to support the services that are there.

"Had we not had a highway our growth would be have less."

Currently four-laning on Highway 11 extends only 46 kilometres south of North Bay and 20 kilometres north of Huntsville, leaving 57 kilometres of highway in between to be expanded.

Construction is underway to four-lane 10 kilometres from Trout Creek to South River. The $30-million project is slated for completion in 2004.

The completion of the four-laning represents a key component to North Bay's future development.

Nancy Creighton, the city's executive director of the economic development commission, says North Bay is beginning to feel the impact of better highway access to southern Ontario.

"Already we're seeing significant benefit to the community affecting tourism, business and real estate," Creighton says.

"We're finding cottage country is pushing north," says Creighton. "People are buying lakefront property and are looking at North Bay as a retirement community because it is easier to get back and forth to Toronto and points south."

Home prices in the first quarter of this year have gone up 11 per cent over the first three months of 2002, says Peter Minogue, chairman of North Bay's economic development commission and a prominent local realtor. The average price of a home was $117,000 in the first quarter of 2002.

"We're getting retired people and the mining industry has come back," says Minogue. "There's just a big demand right now."

"We're also seeing business take advantage of the four-laning and we expect that will continue," says Creighton. "Since transportation costs are measured in time, those costs have been reduced in time and safety."

Minogue says major companies such as Boart Longyear Inc., Atlas Copco Exploration and Fabrene Inc. have closed offices in other cities and moved their top executives to North Bay.

Improved highway links also bode well for North Bay's tourism industry.

Though faster same day travel to and from southern Ontario may ultimately hurt corporate overnight stays, Tim Bertrand, the City of North Bay's tourism co-ordinator, says better highways should positively influence leisure travel to the region.

And the city is also taking a hard look at event bidding for lucrative conference business and sports tourism markets.

Bertrand says North Bay is ideally positioned geographically- being only a three hour-drive from Toronto and three-and-half hour-drive from Ottawa - to siphon off small conferences of about 300 delegates from larger cities or competitively bid on hosting small national championship sporting events.

"Because of that highway it does make things a lot more accessible."

The only sections of Highway 69 that are four lanes are south of Parry Sound with the province spending $116 million in blasting through huge amounts of rock.

Currently, four lanes extend 26 kilometres north of Port Severn, six kilometres south of Sudbury with a 14-kilometre stretch near Parry Sound.

The bypass and a four-kilometre portion has been finished and a 26-kilometre section worth $133 million, north of MacTier is expected to open later this year.

"It's very expensive work in that terrain," says Tom Marcolini, a senior economist with the Ministry of Northern Development and M Mines in Sault Ste. Marie, "plus (there are)a lot of swamps that require filling."

"The 26-kilometre section underway south of Parry Sound is entirely new terrain going across country."

Bill Spinney, general manager of Parry Sound Community Business and Development Centre Inc., says the new fourlane and highway interchange work has not yet produced any immediate economic results, but should make for a quicker and safer trip north for tourists and seasonal residents.

There is some potential industrial park development with a proposed full-service truck stop 16 kilometres north of town that was awaiting municipal site plan approval, he says.

The province says it is committed to expanding and four-laning Highway 69 from Port Severn to Sudbury, a distance of 224 kilometres, within the decade. The estimated construction cost is about $1 billion.

The province is finalizing details on two sections: a 14-kilometre portion from Parry Sound north to Highway 559 and a 20-kilometre piece south of Sudbury to Estaire.

Environmental assessment work has been done with design and land acquisition well underway, says Marcolini.

"The remaining 115-kilometre section between Sudbury and Parry Sound is now undergoing environmental planning process underway for that entire corridor."

When federal Transport Minister David Collonette released a strategy paper in February outlining his government's vision for transportation services, including a $3-billion commitment toward high-speed rail service between Montreal and Toronto, nothing was mentioned about improving the northern highway network.

"We certainly support that need (for rapid rail)," says Jon Christianson, past president of the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce, "but why are they not funding the four-laning of highways in Northern Ontario?"

His organization's biggest concerns are vulnerable stretches of the Trans-Canada Highway where Highways 11 and 17 merge near Thunder Bay and share a single road bed.

"If it's closed off there is no alternate route in Canada," Christianson says. "It's the only link."

The road is frequently closed off because of major accidents and winter storms, which ultimately hinders the growth rate of the North's economy.

His group plans to meet with new provincial transportation minister Frank Klees in late April or early May to deliver a message asking for a partnership between senior levels of government to address the issue.

"What we're looking for is a 10-year plan to build a divided highway in all sections of the Trans-Canada highway in northwestern Ontario where there are no alternate highway routes.

"We're telling him we would like to see this plan developed and believe the two governments have got to work together on this," Christianson says.

In Sault Ste. Marie, construction continues on a 26-kilometre project between Sault Ste. Marie with an existing 19-kilometre stretch east of Echo Bay.

Garden River Constructors, a joint-venture firm of the Garden River Development Corp., and Peter Kiewit & Sons Ltd., based in Nebraska, were, working on a $52.8-million contract through 16 kilometres of Garden River First Nation territory this past spring.

Tenders will be called on two other sections in the next phase. The next phase includes a five-kilometre piece from Black Road and Second Line in the city's east end to the Garden River portion, plus a seven-kilometre project from east of Garden River to hook up with the divided road at Bar River.

The Ministry of Transportation hopes for two lanes to open across the entire project by 2006 and four lanes by 2008, providing 47 kilometres of divided highway from the Sault to the St. Joseph Island turnoff. The entire project is expected to be completed in 2009.

RELATED ARTICLE: 2003 road construction

Ministry of Northern Development and Mines investments:

* Work continues on a $133-million project, which includes 26 kilometres of Highway 69 four-lane alignment from Mactier north to Highway 141. The completion date is late 2003.

* $33-million contract for ongoing 10 kilometre four-lane construction from, Trout Creek to South River. Completion is in 2004.

* Construction is proceeding on a 26-kilometre stretch from Sault Ste. Marie to an existing divided four-lane portion east of Echo Bay at Bar River. A 16-kilometre, $53-million contract is underway through the Garden River First Nation. Completion date is 2004.

* $13-million investment made to upgrade Highway 11 east of Kapuskasing.

* $14.6-million investment for the four-laning of Highway 17 east of Sault Ste. Marie.

* $12-million investment to improve 100 kilometres of Highway 502 south of Dryden.