On this ‘brutal’ highway, it’s plowin’ time again

SUDBURY, Ont. — The 300-km haul from Sudbury north to Timmins along the narrow two-lane 144 can be wicked any time of year. But in late Jan and early Feb? It’s brutal.

For one thing, there are darn few shoulders if any to pull over on. (Check Wikipedia’s perspective. We think you’ll agree.)

If you have to stop, you simply pray that other vehicles get around you.

There’s only one fuel stop along the route.

And finally, the sole non-commercial rest area — about halfway between the two communities — doesn’t get plowed anymore.

That’s why a Sudbury-area trucker Charles Whyte, of Charles Whyte and Sons, is launching a campaign to get the situation improved.

According to local media reports, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation contracted out the plowing of the highway a few years ago and ever since, Whyte says, the one “vital” rest area is ignored.

Whyte says he insists his drivers stop and check their vehicles every 240 km. And the highway is not quite long enough to accommodate that.

The only legit truckstop along the route is at about the halfway point. The Watershed truck stop, named because it’s close to where the rivers start running north instead of south.

The MPP for the area, France Gelinas (NDP-Nickel Belt) has requested the MTO reconsider its plowing contract for the highway and wants to approach the minister “on a personal level” to persuade her that the highway is hazardous and needs attention.

The highway, she says, is “scary."

“There’s no place to pull over. Of all the roads I drive in my riding, this is the one I dread the most.”

Gelinas said even under good summer conditions, there’s no place to pull over. The washrooms at the rest area are under-serviced and you can’t use the bathrooms at the truckstop unless you buy something.

“It would be nice not to have to buy pepperettes just to go to the bathroom,” she says.

In her efforts to convince Ontario’s Minister of Transportation Kathleen Wynne, Gelinas is asking people to send her their own personalized accounts of what sorts of experiences they’ve had driving on 144.

“I know the Minister is a reasonable person and if we can come up with some reasonable stories to share with her, she might reconsider her position,” Gelinas said.

Send your story to fgelina-qp@ndp.on.ca.