On Aug. 7, 2002, Kelly Henderson and her twin 12-year-old sons, Jordin and Corbin Sauve, lost their lives on Highway 69.
The family was returning home to Sudbury just after 7 p.m., when an oncoming transport truck crossed the centre line at the s-curve just south of the turnoff to Killarney, and slammed into their small car.
Ten years and one day after the collision, a 13-kilometre section of four-lane highway stretching between Estaire and a few kilometres south of the turnoff opened to traffic.
While the area where the family died was realigned and bypassed some time ago, it's only been open to two lanes while construction was ongoing. All four lanes are now open to traffic.
The $68.2-million project, awarded to Aecon, included the construction of Ontario's first overhead wildlife crossing bridge, which is expected to reduce animal-vehicle collisions.
Kelly Henderson's brother, Ron Henderson, was on hand at an Aug. 3 press conference, celebrating the opening of the highway.
He explained how his family members' deaths led to lobby efforts to get the province to four-lane Highway 69, something which wasn't even being considered at the time.
“At the funeral, I met an enraged (Sudbury MPP) Rick Bartolucci, who basically told me then he was sick and tired of going to funerals for family members and losing loved ones on Northern highways, particularly on Highway 69.”
“He told me he was going to set up a lobby group, which we ended up calling Crash 69, to lobby the government of the day to four-lane 69.”
The project won't bring back his family members, but Henderson said it's still “gratifying” to know thousands of families will now be able to safely travel on the highway.
Bartolucci said he's glad to see the completion of this particular portion of the highway, as many lives have been lost there.
Beyond the increased safety for motorists, the four-laning will bring economic opportunities to Sudbury.
“The economic opportunities that are presented when you have modern infrastructure are enormous,” Bartolucci said.
“We're already seeing very, very tangible signs of confidence that people have in Sudbury for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons are modern infrastructure that the province of Ontario is investing in.”
Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird was on hand for the press conference, held atop a new overpass. Ottawa and Queen's Park jointly funded the project.
“There's been so much talk over the years about getting this done,” said Baird. “There's so many huge, competing priorities, not only in the province of Ontario, but from coast to coast to coast, for highway construction.”
The 152-km four-laning work between Sudbury and Parry Sound began in 2004. Construction is slated to finish in 2017. Although the project has hit snags involving environmental assessments, Bartolucci insists the four-laning remains on schedule.
Due to inflation, Bartolucci said the final pricetag will be higher than the original $1.5 billion estimate. So far, the province has spent $521 million.
With only 80 kilometres left to widen, the next section of the highway under construction is north and south of the Murdock River.
Teranorth and Bot Construction were awarded the contracts. As is government policy, the province did not release the value of those contracts.
