User:MPD01605/ON 17

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Highway 17
[[Image:|290x172px]]
Length: 1,960 km
Formed: 1920
Direction: East/West
From: continuation of Ont. Hwy. 417 near Arnprior
Major
junctions:		 Highway 60 at Renfrew
Highway 41 at Pembroke
Highway 11 at North Bay
Highway 64 at West Nipissing
Highway 69 at Sudbury
Highway 144 at Lively
Highway 6 at Espanola
Highway 108 at Serpent River
Highway 129 at Thessalon
Highway 101 at Wawa
Highway 11 at Nipigon
Highway 61 at Thunder Bay
Highway 11 at Shabaqua Corner
Highway 72 at Dinorwic
Highway 105 at Vermilion Bay
Highway 71 at Kenora
To: continuation of Man. Hwy. 1 at Manitoba border
Major cities: Pembroke
North Bay
Sudbury
Sault Ste. Marie
Thunder Bay

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

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 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.

[edit] History

Please note that this section is incomplete

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 provincial 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.

Highway 17 heading north-west through Cobden
Highway 17 heading north-west through Cobden

[edit] Communities

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

Highway 17 between Deep River and Mattawa.
Highway 17 between Deep River and Mattawa.
Highway 17 in Mattawa.
Highway 17 in Mattawa.
One of the few short sections of 4-lane divided highway 17 between Echo Bay and Desbarats.
One of the few short sections of 4-lane divided highway 17 between Echo Bay and Desbarats.

[edit] Business routes

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


[edit] Future construction

{{Future road}} Another freeway segment, currently under construction from Sault Ste. Marie to Echo Bay, is scheduled to open in 2008. [2] 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.)

The MTO has also begun studying a new route for Highway 17 between the communities of Nipigon and Raith. [citation needed] This new route would shave roughly 100 kilometres off the route of the Trans-Canada Highway. Once constructed, the majority of the old route of Highway 11/17 will be simply numbered as Highway 11, while the short distance of existing Highway 17 between Raith and Shabaqua will be designated as a continuation of Highway 102. This highway is likely to become a freeway. Highway 61 will likely extend on the corridor of the current route of Highway 11/17 between Nipigon and Thunder Bay.

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. However, a significant amount of forestry has been excavated between Echo Bay and the Greater Sudbury area already; thus a possible freeway corridor between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury is underway. [citation needed] It is believed that the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge may connect to a future freeway segment in Sault Ste. Marie before Highway 417 reaches Sault Ste. Marie or Sudbury.

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.