Ontario Highway 11

Highway 11 shield Trans-Canada Highway shield

Highway 11

Route information

Maintained by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario

Length:

1,780.2 km^[1] (1,106.2 mi)

Existed:

1920 – present

Major junctions

South end:

Highway 400 – Barrie

Highway 12 – Orillia

Highway 60 – Huntsville

Highway 17 – North Bay

Highway 63 – North Bay

Highway 64 – Marten River

Highway 65 – New Liskeard

Highway 66 – Kenogami

Highway 101 – Matheson

Highway 17 / Highway 61 – Thunder Bay

Highway 71 – Fort Frances

West end:

MN 72 – Baudette, MN

Location

Divisions:

Simcoe County, Muskoka, Parry Sound District, Nipissing District, Timiskaming District, Cochrane District, Thunder Bay District, Rainy River District

Major cities:

Barrie, Orillia, North Bay, Temiskaming Shores, Thunder Bay

Towns:

Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Huntsville, Burk's Falls, South River, Powassan, Temagami, Englehart, Matheson, Cochrane, Kapuskasing, Hearst, Longlac, Geraldton, Nipigon, Fort Frances, Rainy River

Highway system

Ontario provincial highways

←

Highway 10

Highway 12

→

King's Highway 11, commonly referred to as Highway 11, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. At 1,780.2 kilometres (1,106.2 mi), it is the second longest highway in the province, following Highway 17. Highway 11 begins at Highway 400 in Barrie, and arches through northern Ontario to the Ontario–Minnesota border at Rainy River via Thunder Bay; the road continues as Minnesota State Highway 72 across the Baudette-Rainy River International Bridge.

North and west of North Bay, Highway 11 forms part of the Trans-Canada Highway. The highway is also part of MOM's Way between Thunder Bay and Rainy River.

History

1927 postcard of the Ferguson Highway

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. By linking together several previously built roads such as Yonge Street, Penetanguishene Road, Middle Crossroad and the Muskoka Road, all early colonization roads in this region, a continuous route was created between Toronto and North Bay; however, the new department's jurisdiction did not extend north of the Severn River. North of the Severn River, the roadway was maintained by the Department of Northern Development.

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 July 2, 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.

Highway 11 facing north towards Bracebridge

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 a disputed reputation 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; this is often used when a stretch of road lost its regional importance and it is improper to ask other taxpayers in other regions to pay for this road from which they derive no benefit. 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. Within the city of Toronto, which does not have a regional road numbering system, it is now known simply as Yonge Street. 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.

Highway 11 began to be upgraded beginning in the 1960s when the stretch between Barrie and Gravenhurst was upgraded to a 4 lane highway with a median barrier and right-in/right-out ramps, with a signed speed limit of 90 km/h. Upgrades continued in the 1970s between Gravenhurst and Huntsville, where the highway was built with a grass median and a mix of interchanges and at grade intersections. Major reconstruction of Highway 11 between North Bay and Huntsville began in 2003, upgrading the route from a two-lane rural highway to a four-lane road. In some sections the route was being built as an expressway with right-in/right-out ramps or at-grade intersections, while in others it was built as a full 400-Series freeway.

Highway 11 crosses the 45th parallel (halfway between the equator and north pole) 600 metres north of the bridge carrying Highway 118 at interchange 182, just outside Bracebridge.

Due to a steep incline as it descends Thibeault Hill into North Bay, the southbound Algonquin Avenue segment of Highway 11 features the only runaway truck ramp on Ontario's highway system.^[2] The Ministry of Transportation is currently undertaking a study of potential highway improvements in the North Bay area, which may include a new westerly realignment of this segment to bypass the hill.

On August 9, 2012, construction of the fully divided four lane freeway between Huntsville and North Bay was completed.^[3] However, as the section south of Gravenhurst is still a RIRO expressway rather than a full freeway, the highway is not currently slated to be renumbered as Highway 411.

Route description

The highway passes through remote northern parts of the province. The stretch of highway between Hearst and Longlac, over 200 km, is totally uninhabited, and it is recommended that travelers stop to refuel before crossing this region.

Business routes

Highway 11B is the designation for business routes of Highway 11, nine of which have existed over the years. Two continue to exist today, while the remaining seven have been decommissioned. With the exception of the short spur route into Atikokan, all were at one time the primary route of Highway 11 through the communities they served, and were redesignated as 11B after a newer bypass alignment was constructed.

Highway 11B entering Cobalt

All sections of Highway 11B have now been decommissioned by the province with the exception of the Atikokan route and the southernmost section of the former Tri-Town route between Cobalt and Highway 11.

In 1967, a section of the Cobalt route of Highway 11B collapsed into an abandoned mine, cutting off the town of Cobalt.^[4]

Future

Highway 11 facing south from Highway 12 in Orillia

Highway 11 between Barrie and Gravenhurst is currently a right-in/right-out (RIRO) expressway (local access permitted, turnarounds via special interchanges), except for a section around Orillia which is a full freeway. Another freeway section does exist in Barrie with the freeway segment from the southern terminus ending at Penetanguishene Road (Simcoe Road 93). The MTO is currently planning on either converting the existing RIRO expressway to a full six-lane freeway, or bypassing it with an entirely new alignment. An environmental and fiscal study concluded that the improvements from Barrie to Gravenhurst will involve the existing route being widened with the exception of a portion south of Gravenhurst that may potentially be constructed to the east of the current road.^[5]

Major intersections

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 11, as noted by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.^[1]

Division	Location	km^[1]	mi	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Simcoe	Oro-Medonte	0.0	0.0		Highway 400A south – Barrie, Toronto County Road 93 north (Penetanguishene Road) – Midland	Continuation of Ontario Highway 400 kilometre markers
		5.7	3.5		Oro-Medonte Line 4
		15.8	9.8		County Road 20 (Oro-Medonte Line 11)
	Orillia	23.6	14.7	129	Memorial Avenue	Northbound exit only; southbound exit and northbound entrance via Oro-Medonte Line 15
		25.3	15.7	131	Highway 12 south (Old Barrie Road) – Whitby
		27.7	17.2	133	Highway 12 north (Coldwater Road) – Coldwater, Midland
		29.8	18.5	135	County Road 18 (West Street / Burnside Line)
		31.4	19.5		Laclie Street	Northbound entrance and southbound exit
	Severn	38.9	24.2		Bayou Road / New Brailey Line
		46.7	29.0		County Road 169 south
		49.0	30.4		Severn River bridge
Muskoka	Gravenhurst	49.0	30.4		Severn River bridge
		64.9	40.3	169	District Road 169 west (Muskoka Road) – Bala, Parry Sound	Dead Man's Curve; no northbound entrance
		69.9	43.4	175	District Road 41 west (Bethune Road) District Road 6 east (Doe Lake Road)
		76.8	47.7	182	Highway 118 east – Haliburton District Road 118 west – Bracebridge, Port Carling
	Bracebridge
		78.8	49.0	184	District Road 37 (Fredrick Street / Cedar Lane)
		83.6	51.9	189	District Road 42 (Taylor Road)
		87.5	54.4	193	District Road 117 east – Dorset
	Huntsville	101.8	63.3	207	Highway 141 west – Parry Sound, Utterson District Road 10 – Port Sydney
		114.3	71.0	219	District Road 3 (Aspdin Road / Main Street)	Huntsville Bypass
		116.6	72.5	221	District Road 2 (West Road / Ravenscliffe Road)
		118.3	73.5	223	Highway 60 east – Ottawa – Algonquin Provincial Park
		121.5	75.5	226	District Road 3
		126.3	78.5	235	Highway 592 north (Novar Road) – Emsdale	Emsdale Bypass
Parry Sound	Emsdale	135.2	84.0	244	Fern Glen Road west / Scotia Road east
		139.4	86.6	248	Highway 518 west – Parry Sound
		141.1	87.7	252	Doe Lake Road west / Three Mile Lake Road east
	Burk's Falls	148.3	92.1	257	Highway 520 (Ontario Street) – Magnetawan	Burk's Falls Bypass
	Burk's Falls	151.9	94.4	261	Ontario Street
	Sundridge	167.6	104.1	276	Highway 124 – Parry Sound, South River	Sundridge / South River Bypass
	South River	174.4	108.4	282	Mountain Road and Tower Road
	South River	179.9	111.8	289	Highway 124 – Sundridge
	Laurier	184.9	114.9	294	Goreville Road / Summit Road
	Trout Creek	192.3	119.5	301	Highway 522 west – Commanda	Trout Creek Bypass
	Trout Creek	197.1	122.5	306	Highway 522B	Trout Creek Bypass
	Powassan	207.6	129.0	316	Highway 534 west – Nipissing, Restoule
	Callander	220.6	137.1	329	Highway 654 (Lake Nosbonsing Road) – Nipissing	To Highway 94 north – Corbeil
Nipissing	North Bay	229.7	142.7	338	Lakeshore Drive	Formerly Highway 11B
Nipissing	North Bay	235.4	146.3	344	Highway 17 east – Ottawa	Beginning of Highway 17 concurrency
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Route map

Western half of King's Highway 11

Eastern half of King's Highway 11

Images

Highway 11 just north of North Bay. On the left the Brake Check area can be seen before trucks head into North Bay.
New 4-lane divided highway at North Waseosa Lake Road/Rockhaven Road interchange near Melissa.
Between Cochrane and Longlac, Highway 11 is straight and flat with little development.
Winter can pose serious driving hazards along Hwy 11 (near Temagami).
New 4-lane divided Hwy 11 (near Katrine).

References

1 2 3 Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (2008). "Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) counts". Retrieved December 7, 2011.
↑ "Northern Highways Program: 2010–2014. Ontario Ministry of Transportation.
↑ "Highway 11 four-laning complete". North Bay Nugget, August 10, 2012.
↑ Looker, Janet (2000). Disaster Canada. Lynx Images. p. 57. ISBN 1-894073-13-4.
↑

External links

Route map: Bing / Google

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Highway 11 (Ontario).

Portions of the Trans-Canada Highway

British Columbia	Highway 1 Highway 5 Highway 16

Alberta	Highway 1 Highway 16

Saskatchewan	Highway 1 Highway 16

Manitoba	Highway 1 Highway 16 Highway 100

Ontario	Highway 17 Highway 69 Highway 400 Highway 12 Highway 7 Highway 71 Highway 11 Highway 66 Highway 417

Quebec	Autoroute 40 Autoroute 25 Autoroute 20 Autoroute 85 Route 185 Route 117 Autoroute 15

New Brunswick	Route 2 Route 16

	Confederation Bridge

Prince Edward Island	Route 1

Nova Scotia	Highway 104 Highway 105 Highway 106 Trunk 4 Sunrise Trail

Newfoundland	Route 1

Category Portal WikiProject

The King's Highways of Ontario

Current highways

2 3 4 5 6 7 7A 8 9 10 11 11B 12 15 16 17 17A 17B 19 20 21 23 24 26 27 28 33 34 35 37 40 41 48 49 58 58A 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 69 71 72 77 85 89 93 94 101 102 105 108 112 115 118 124 125 127 129 130 132 137 138 140 141 144 148 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 ETR 409 410 412 416 417 418 420 427 QEW

Former highways

2A 2B 2S 3B 4A 5A 7B 8A 11A 12B 14 15A 18 18A 18B 22 24A 25 29 30 31 32 35A 35B 36 38 39 40B 42 43 44 45 46 47 48B 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 59 68 70 73 74 75 76 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 86 87 88 90 91 92 95 96 97 98 99 100 103 104 106 107 109 110 111 114 116 117 119 120 121 122 123 126 128 131 133 134 135 136 169 400A 401A

County roads in Ontario
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Expressways and 400-series highways
King's Highways
Secondary highways
Tertiary and 7000-series highways
List of Ontario provincial highways
List of former provincial highways in Ontario
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Emergency Detour Route

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