HIGHWAY 11 (ONTARIO)

'Highway 11' is one of the longest of Ontario's King's Highways, with a current length (as of 2004) of 1,636 kilometres (1,016 mi). Highway 11 begins at Highway 400 in Barrie, Ontario, and stretches across northern Ontario, around Lake Superior, to the Ontario/Minnesota border at Rainy River. At that point it connects to Minnesota State Highway 72 at the Baudette-Rainy River International Bridge.
North and west of North Bay, Highway 11 is part of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Contents

History

Future

Lane and roadway configurations from south to north

Interchanges from south to north

Images

See also

External links

History

Highway 11 was originally planned as a trunk road to connect the communities of Southern Ontario to those of Northern Ontario, as a continuous route from Toronto to North Bay. In 1919, Premier of Ontario Ernest Charles Drury created the Department of Public Highways, though much of the responsibility for establishing the route, he left to Minister of the new cabinet position, Frank Campbell Biggs. Most of the route linked previously built roads such as Yonge Street, Penetanguishene Road, Middle Crossroad and the Muskoka Road, all early colonization roads in this region.
Further expansion was planned with a new highway from North Bay to Cochrane. Construction began in 1925, including reconstruction of portions of the old Muskoka Road from Severn Bridge which was officially opened on 2 July 1927. When it was opened, it was named the 'Ferguson Highway', in honour of Premier George Howard Ferguson (Drury's successor). Roads in northern Ontario later came under the Ministry of Transportation and became provincial highways.
Over the years, Highway 11 grew to stretch from downtown Toronto all the way to the Minnesota border. Highway 11 became synonymous with Yonge Street, the name of the street in Toronto which formed its southernmost segment. It is from this that Yonge Street gained (somewhat controversially) fame as the 'longest street in the world'.
In 1997, the care of the highway portion south of Barrie, including Yonge Street, was transferred by the provincial government to various regional governments as part of significant cost reductions by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. This practice is called downloading, in that the financial burden will fall to a lower tier government, in the premise of reducing taxes. Along with the name Yonge Street, the section in York Region is now York Regional Road 1, the section in Simcoe County is now mostly Simcoe County 4. Toronto does not have a regional road system; it is now only known as Yonge Street there. Highway 11 consequently assumed the 1.1-kilometre highway stub formerly known as Highway 400A, and now ends at the interchange with Highway 400 just north of Barrie's city limits.
In 2003, a major bridge failure at the Sgt. Aubrey Cosens VC Memorial Bridge at the Montreal River in Latchford caused a complete closure and significant detour.
Major reconstruction of Highway 11 south of North Bay has taken place in recent years, which has slowly been in the process of upgrading from a two-lane rural highway, to a four-lane road with right-in/right-out ramps, to a 400-Series standard freeway (which has been completed in several sections). In some aeas the new freeway is being built with at-grade intersections, presumably to be upgraded to full interchanges or grade separated at a future date. By the early-2010s, it is expected that all of the highway between Gravenhurst and North Bay will be four lanes. Despite the at-grade intersections, the normal freeway speed of 100 kilometres per hour (65 mph) is posted.

Future

Highway 11 between Barrie and Gravenhurst is currently a rather unusual right-in/right-out (RIRO) expressway (local access permitted, turnarounds via special interchanges), except for a section around Orillia which is a full freeway. The MTO is currently planning on either converting the existing RIRO expressway to a full 6-lane freeway, or bypassing it with an entirely new alignment.
North of Gravenhurst to North Bay, the highway is a mixture of freeway sections and at-grade rural expressway (planned to be upgraded to a full freeway) except for one gap that remains a two-lane conventional highway; that section is expected to be widened by 2012.

Lane and roadway configurations from south to north

Section	Travel lanes and description
Highway 400 to Simcoe Road 93	2 lanes in each direction, Freeway
Simcoe Road 93 to Memorial Avenue	2 lanes in each direction, RIRO expressway
Memorial Avenue to Laclie Street	2 lanes in each direction, Freeway
Laclie Street to Muskoka Road 169	2 lanes in each direction, RIRO expressway
Muskoka Road 169 to Gull Lake Narrows bridge	2 lanes in each direction, At-grade expressway
Gull Lake Narrows bridge to Muskoka Road 117	2 lanes in each direction, Freeway
Muskoka Road 117 to Lindgren Road	2 lanes in each direction, At-grade expressway
Lindgren Road to Novar Road	2 lanes in each direction, Freeway
Novar Road to Station Road	2 lanes in each direction, At-grade expressway
Station Road to Highway 592/Sunset Pass Drive	2 lanes in each direction, Freeway
Highway 592/Sunset Pass Drive to 2 km north of South River crossing	1 Lane per Direction, Undivided (to be upgraded in various stages)
2 km north of South River crossing to Lindsay's Hill Road	2 lanes in each direction, At-grade expressway
Lindsay's Hill Road to Proudfoot Road	2 lanes in each direction, Freeway
Proudfoot Road to 1 km south of Wasi River crossing	2 lanes in each direction, At-grade expressway
Wasi River crossing to Highway 17 East	2 lanes in each direction, Freeway
North Bay bypass multiplexed with Highway 17	2 lanes in each direction, Undivided major arterial road
Highway 17 West (North Bay) northward	Generally 1 Lane per Direction, Undivided conventional highway

Interchanges from south to north

Note the exit numbers start around 104 - currently the first posted exit number is 129 in Orillia - presumably for continuation from Highway 400.

Municipality	Exit number	Intersecting roads
Springwater	104 ★	Highway 400
Crown Hill (Springwater - Oro-Medonte Boundary)	105 ★	Penetanguishene Road (Simcoe County Road 93; former )
Oro-Medonte	109 ★ ★	Oro-Medonte Line 3 (Simcoe County Road 57)/"Gasoline Alley"
Oro-Medonte	115 ★ ★	Oro-Medonte Line 7 (Simcoe County Road 127)
Oro-Medonte	121 ★ ★	Oro-Medonte Line 11 (Simcoe County Road 20)
Oro-Medonte - Orillia Boundary	129	Memorial Avenue (Simcoe County Road 49) (currently northbound only)
Orillia	131	Highway 12 South / Old Barrie Road (Simcoe County Road 11)
Orillia	133	Highway 12 North / Coldwater Road
Orillia - Severn Boundary	135	Burnside Line/West Street (Simcoe County Road 18)
Orillia - Severn Boundary	137 ★	Laclie Street
Severn	146 ★ ★	South Sparrow Lake Road (Simcoe County Road 38)/Goldstein Road
Severn	151 ★ ★	Simcoe County Road 169 (formerly Ontario Highways 69 and 169)
Severn - Gravenhurst Boundary	153 ★ ★	Coopers Falls Road (Muskoka Road 6 and Simcoe County Road 52)
Gravenhurst	154 ★ ★	Southwood Road (Muskoka Road 13)
Gravenhurst	161 ★ ★	Kilworthy Road/Kahshe Lake Road
Gravenhurst	169	Muskoka Road 169 (formerly Ontario Highways 69 and 169)
Gravenhurst	175	Bethune Drive (Muskoka Road 41)/Doe Lake Road (Muskoka Road 6)
Bracebridge	182	Highway 118/Muskoka Road 118 West
Bracebridge	184	Cedar Lane (Muskoka Road 37)
Bracebridge	189	Taylor Road (Muskoka Road 42)
Bracebridge	191 ★	Kirk Line (substandard)
Bracebridge	193	Muskoka Road 117 (formerly Highway 117)
Huntsville	205 ★	South Mary Lake Road (Muskoka Road 44)/Stephenson Road 4 (at-grade intersection, interchange construction to begin soon)
Huntsville	207	Highway 141/Port Sydney Road (Muskoka Road 10)
Huntsville	212 ★	Allensville Road/Rowanwood Road (currently an at-grade intersection)
Huntsville	216 ★	Gryffin Lodge Road/Madill Church Road (currently an at-grade intersection)
Huntsville	219	Muskoka Road 3
Huntsville	221	Muskoka Road 2
Huntsville	223	Highway 60
Huntsville	226	Muskoka Road 3/Old North Road
Huntsville	231	North Waseosa Lake Road/Rockhaven Road (pictured below)
Huntsville - Perry Boundary	235	Novar Road/ Highway 592
Perry	244	Fern Glen Road/Scotia Road
Perry	248	Highway 518/Deer Lake Road
Armour	252 ★	Doe Lake Road/Three Mile Lake Road (at-grade intersection, interchange under construction)
Armour	257 ★	Highway 520/Ferguson Road (at-grade intersection, interchange under construction)
Armour	261 ★	Ontario Street (at-grade intersection, future interchange)
Armour - Strong Boundary	266 ★	Pevensey Road (at-grade intersection, future interchange)
Strong	271 ★	Black Creek Road/Robins Road (at-grade intersection, future interchange)
Strong	276 ★	Highway 124 (at-grade intersection, future interchange)
Strong - Machar Boundary	284 ★	Machar-Strong Boundary Road/Tower Road (future interchange)
Machar	291 ★	Highway 124 (Existing Highway 11) (interchange under construction)
Parry Sound District (unincorporated)	294	Goreville Road/Summit Road
Powassan	301	Highway 522/McFadden Line
Powassan	306	Highway 522B/Hemlock Road
Powassan	316	Highway 534/Clark Street
Callander	329	Highway 654/Lake Nosbonsing Road
North Bay	338	Lakeshore Drive
North Bay	344	Highway 17

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★ Exit number not signed, based on kilometre post

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★ Current RIRO expressway section, possible interchange on new freeway

Images

See also

★ List of Ontario provincial highways

★ Trans-Canada Highway

★ Yonge Street

External links

★ Ontario Plaques - Ferguson Highway

★ Ontario Highway 11 Homepage - A Virtual Community-by-Community Trip Along the World's Longest Street