McKeown Ave. to be four laned

One of North Bay's busiest streets will be four-laned in the next couple of years.

That announcement came today as part of a Zoom call detailing public transit and active transportation, as well as road and bridge infrastructure in the region.

Part of that is the four-laning of McKeown Ave. in the city's west end.

McKeown is already four-laned from Algonquin Ave. to Cartier St. about halfway down. Now it will extend to the roundabout on Gormanville.

"McKeown is busting at the seams," Mayor Al McDonald to reporters. "It's fully built out. You have the hospital that has 22 hundred employees plus you have friends and family that visit the hospital, college, and university. You have government offices and retail so it's completely built out."

Work includes reconstruction of pavement, curbs, boulevards, a new sidewalk, and pavement for a recreational pathway, resulting in improved traffic flow and increased safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.

McDonald says construction won't start "until next year at the very earliest" depending on engineering.

"The traffic congestion happens when it goes from four lanes to two so we're going to open it up to the roundabout but it really strengthens the infrastructure in the busiest part of our town."

At the same time, MP Terry Sheehan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Economic Development, MP Anthony Rota. MPP Vic Fedeli and McDonald held a virtual news conference to jointly announce a $31m package for 15 other area projects.

That story will follow.