Hwy 17 (Wawa to Batchawana) is OPEN

 

Highway 17 from Wawa to Batchawana is indeed open. It has been open since Sunday morning at 2:25.

Since then, however, the mapping and text show that the highway is still closed. The screen shot to the right was taken at 10:00 a.m. ON511 does acknowledge that they are having issues with their website, via a banner on the top of the “Incidents’ page.

In a humorous thought – maybe they will just leave the the notification saying closed, since in the past week week the highway has been closed more than open, and with the current streamers, it could happen again.

If you think that Highway 17 in the Wawa area has been closed there are a few ways to check.

Local media:

• Wawa-news
• JJAM-FM

Social Media:

• Northern Ontario Traffic Alerts – Alertes Routiers on facebook. With over 86,000 members, road closures and especially road conditions are updated frequently by motorists.

Waze:

• by using Waze to plan your trip, motorists can update road hazards, traffic delays in real time for their fellow travellers

Ontario Provincial Police:

• Superior East no longer issues media releases regarding road closures – sporadic posts can be seen on FB and X
• Ontario Provincial Police – North East Region posts information on fb, but not on a regular basis

ON511 Webcam:

If you check ON511’s webcams you see that the views from the Batchawana webcam show the intersection where OPP commonly place the barricade, and you can also see the lineup (screenshot to the right). Unfortunately, the webcam at Wawa doesn’t show either barricade placements (17 south, and 17 north/west)