The town of Fort Frances is keeping an eye on the development of a proposed Winnipeg to Thunder Bay tourism route initiative.
It’s intended to encourage more travel between the two cities.
Councillor Mike Behan says it’s worth taking a look.
“I still think there is great value in promoting the Highway 11/71 Corridor, whether by directly supporting this proposed initiative or somehow piggybacking on it. (That’s) why I thought it was important to bring forward to EDAC to have it on the radar,” says Behan.
A similar travel route called MOM’s Way has been in place since the 1990s. It follows Highway 11 in Ontario and Minnesota and Manitoba’s Hwy 12.
The town’s economic development consultant, Tannis Drysdale, worries about the impact the new initiative will have on that route.
“My one concern about this whole project is that they want to do this instead of MOM’s Way, and it’s not a logical tourism route,” says Drysdale.
Drysdale feels MOM’s Way will be more valuable to the local tourism sector than the new travel route when the border is open again.
Those working on the strategy hope to have it in place sometime in 2022.
