HIGHWAY 17 (ONTARIO)

'Highway 17' is a route of the Trans-Canada Highway through Ontario, Canada. It begins at the western limit of Highway 417 near Arnprior, and continues west to the Manitoba border.

Contents

Longest highway in Ontario

Freeway segments

History

Communities

Business routes

Future construction

References

External links

Longest highway in Ontario

It is Ontario's longest provincial highway, with a length of about 1,960 km (1,220 miles). The highway once extended even further, to the Quebec border in East Hawkesbury for a peak length of about 2,140 km (1,330 miles). However, a section of Highway 17 "disappeared" when the Ottawa section of it was upgraded to the freeway Highway 417 in 1971. Highway 17 was not re-routed through Ottawa, nor did it share numbering with Highway 417 to rectify the discontinuity, even though Highway 417 formed a direct link between the western and eastern sections of Highway 17. However, from East Hawkesbury to Ottawa, Highway 17 retained the Trans-Canada Highway routing and signs until it met up again and merged with Highway 417.

Freeway segments

The first freeway portion of Highway 17 was the Queensway in Ottawa, built as a cross-town superhighway. This eventually connected to Highway 417 which was built east of Ottawa to the Quebec border as an original designation and alignment.
The highway has an existing freeway segment in Greater Sudbury, between the communities of Whitefish and Lively. A segment from Echo Bay to Desbarats is divided expressway with grade-level intersections rather than interchanges, and many points of private access. However, as these segments are not currently connected to other portions of Ontario's freeway network, they will remain designated as Highway 17 for the foreseeable future.

History

In 1930, Highway 17's extent was between the Ontario-Quebec border and Pembroke. However, there was a connecting roadway west of Pembroke through North Bay, Sudbury and reaching Sault Ste. Marie at that time, although this was not part of the King's Highway system.^[1]
The last gravel stretch of Hwy 17 was located west of Ignace and was paved in 1967.
In 1997 the provincial government transferred the ownership of a large number of regional roads to municipalities (also known as "provincial downloading"). Since then all portions east of Arnprior have been decommissioned with the construction of Highway 417 westward to Arnprior. What was Highway 17 east of the intersection 113 (known locally as "the Split") in Ottawa is now designated Regional Road 174 and lost its Trans-Canada Highway designation to Highway 417. As construction of Highway 417 continues westward, it will absorb Highway 17, shortening its length.

Communities

Communities that Highway 17 travels through or near, listed from east to west:




★ Arnprior

★ Renfrew

★ Cobden

★ Pembroke

★ Petawawa

★ Chalk River

★ Deep River

★ Rolphton

★ Mattawa

★ 'North Bay'

★ Sturgeon Falls

★ Cache Bay

★ Verner

★ Warren

★ 'Greater Sudbury'

★ Espanola

★ Webbwood

★ Massey

★ Blind River

★ Thessalon

★ 'Sault Ste. Marie'

★ Wawa

★ White River

★ Marathon

★ Terrace Bay

★ Schreiber

★ Nipigon

★ Red Rock

★ 'Thunder Bay'

★ Ignace

★ Dryden

★ Kenora

Business routes

Highway 17 used to have a number of business routes, but all of them have been decommissioned.

★ Highway 17B (Ottawa)

★ Highway 17B (North Bay)

★ Highway 17B (Thessalon)

★ Highway 17B (Sault Ste. Marie)

★ Highway 17B (Thunder Bay)

Future construction

An expressway segment, currently under construction from Sault Ste. Marie to Echo Bay, is scheduled to open in 2007.
Highway 17 / Echo River to Bar River Rd.
After the opening of this segment, the current route of Highway 17 between the two locations may become an extension of Highway 638.
Studies are also underway on the extension of Highway 417 through the Ottawa Valley region to Petawawa.
The provincial government has announced that in the 2010s, near the completion date of the Highway 400 extension, the existing Highway 17 freeway segment in Greater Sudbury will be extended eastward to Coniston along the Southwest and Southeast Bypasses. (Environmental studies have also been completed on the freeway's westerly extension to McKerrow, near Espanola, but no construction schedule has been announced to date.)
Some discussion has taken place regarding the potential freeway conversion of Highway 17's entire route from Sault Ste. Marie to Arnprior, but to date no formal project planning or scheduling has been undertaken beyond the segments noted above.
Any potential extension of Highway 417 into Northern Ontario, however, will face a serious bottleneck at North Bay, where the region's geography has foiled numerous attempts to build a new route bypassing the city's main urban core. Any potential new route east of the city's Trout Lake would require crossing the environmentally protected Mattawa River Provincial Park, while any potential route west of Trout Lake would require significant urban expropriation and demolition.

References

1. Road Map of Ontario, 1930-31, Ontario Department of Public Highways

External links

★ Ontario Hwy 17 Photos, by Scott Steeves

★ Highway 17 from Cavers to White River - The Ontario Highway 11 Homepage

★ Google Maps: Highway 17 route