Engineering the North Bay Expressway for Increased Safety and Reduced Delays

Identifying Values

Value engineering (VE) is an approach that MTO uses on selected transportation upgrade and expansion projects. VE combines creativity with a structured review process for highway facility planning and design. In fall 2004, MTO applied VE principles to Highway 11/17 in North Bay to help scope the preferred plan for improving the movement of provincial traffic on the existing bypass.

The North Bay bypass was originally constructed in 1953 as a two-lane facility. Numerous upgrades have been undertaken since the initial construction including additional lanes, traffic signals, and others to accommodate increased local and provincial traffic and improve its efficiency and safety.

However, it was recognized that this bypass would not be able to accommodate these needs in the long term. Therefore, during the late 1970s, an alternate expressway route for provincial traffic, with proposed local service connections, was "designated" after public consultation, consideration of various alternatives and acceptance by MTO and the City of North Bay.

Development pressures in recent years and changes to MTO design standards reignited the need to ensure that the property required for the future expressway route is protected. Northeastern Region staff recommended a VE project to re-examine the issues with the existing bypass, clearly identify operational problems, and confirm the proposed solution of constructing a different route through North Bay. A VE team was assembled with staff and experts from the private sector, the City of North Bay, and MTO. The VE team began its analysis of the bypass and the protected expressway route by outlining several issues associated with the existing bypass. Some concerns included: safety, performance expectations, commercial growth, increasing travel demands, and ongoing development pressure such as upcoming subdivision lots and new businesses. The team generated 92 ideas to address the issues, plus 23 alternatives and 11 design suggestions.

The VE team used Function Analysis System Technique (FAST) to improve the team's understanding of the project, and assist in the generation of project requirements. FAST is organized in chart form so the team, while asking the questions "How?" and "Why?", can identify required project functions. For Highway 11/17 in North Bay, the basic project functions identified were "reduce delay in traffic," and "increase safety." These were used to articulate more specific goals such as improvements to city transit and identifying truck routes. Project performance measures including public safety, environmental and property impacts were listed in the evaluation of the proposed alternatives. These performance measures will also be considered during the planning, design and construction of the new route. The VE team divided into two groups to develop and evaluate ideas and scenarios for construction. The proposals focused on specific components, which were then grouped into three broad areas: improving the existing bypass, constructing a new bypass, and relocating Highway 11 North. Alternative designs were developed within each group. The team then scored them according to performance.

The five alternatives developed and compared based on a performance/cost ratio included:

* Upgrade the existing bypass

* Construct a rural freeway on the expressway alignment

* Construct an urban freeway on the expressway alignment

* Relocate the Trout Lake Road Interchange to align with the expressway urban freeway alignment

* Build an urban freeway on the expressway alignment with the relocated Highway 11 North.

The workshop also generated several ideas for improving the performance of the North Bay bypass. The fifth alternative (an urban freeway on the dedicated expressway alignment with a relocated Highway 11 North) provides the highest performance/cost ratio, and was recommended by the team. The VE team also identified a total of $15M in cost savings from a total project value of approximately $77M, along with a high performance value for this project. Components include: constructing Single Point Urban Interchanges at Algonquin Avenue and Trout Lake Road, including a 6.8m median with a tall wall barrier, and relocating Highway 11 North to connect to Highway 17 West near College Drive.

The VE team also recommended dividing the project into four phases for further planning, design and construction. The planning, preliminary design and Environmental Assessment of Phase 1 are now under way.