I did my calculations and your Thunder Bay bypass to connect with Highway 11 North of Nipigon takes 135KM off the route from Winnipeg to Toronto. Also too, since Highway 11 is on flatter land and less sharp curves, this makes the Highway more suitable for twinning.
I understand your ideas of this route prioritizing speed and diverting cross-country traffic from cities. But the problem with it is that it would go through the middle of nowhere for most of its length. It would have less connection with Cities and Important Highways. The current Highway 17 alignment, although curvy, is more direct when going to cities like Sault Ste Marie and Greater Sudbury.
I'm not at all saying that the Highway 11 Freeway is useless. I feel like if they could make that Highway 11 to Upsala Connector and build multiple roads and accesses to reserves, I feel like this Route could help drive the economy in Northern Ontario. That would include building roadside services, driving the logging businesses, etc. This could even aid in building a road to Moosonee, which could help start the construction of my Frontier Corridor Concept. In the long run, the Highway would connect Moosonee to Fort Severn, and ultimately to Port Nelson and Thompson.
But to make this work, Highway 11 could be Rerouted to Upsala, and Highway 17 would stay as is on its current alignment. Highway 17 could eventually become A-1 in my Autoroute plan, with 11 becoming A-11 which would make a reference of it being an A-1 Bypass. Plus, A-11 would be like Interstate 12, which bypasses New Orleans (which I feel like I-12 could become an Auxilary Interstate).
And making a good Highway that would connect Longlac to White River would make travel to Sault Ste Marie easier.
