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Highway 17
Trans-Canada Highway
Route information
Maintained by Ministry of Transportation of Ontario
Length	1,960 km (1,220 mi)
Existed	1920–present
Major junctions
West end	PTH 1 towards Winnipeg, MB
Major intersections	Highway 61 in Thunder Bay To I-75 in Sault Ste. Marie Highway 69 in Sudbury Highway 11 near North Bay
East end	Highway 417 near Arnprior
Location
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Highway system
Ontario provincial highways Current Former 400-series
← Highway 16 → Highway 19

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.

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

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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.

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 turned back 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 deleted.

• Highway 17B (Ottawa)
• Highway 17B (North Bay)
• Highway 17B (Thessalon)
• Highway 17B (Sault Ste. Marie)
• Highway 17B (Thunder Bay)

Future construction

Template:Future road An expressway segment, currently under construction from Sault Ste. Marie to Echo Bay, is scheduled to open in 2007. 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
2. "Highway 17 / Echo River to Bar River Rd". Transport Canada. Retrieved 2007-04-11.

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

Preceded byMB Highway 1	Trans-Canada Highway Highway 17	Succeeded by Highway 417
		Succeeded byHighway 71
Preceded by Highway 11		Succeeded by Highway 11
Preceded by Highway 11		Succeeded by Highway 69

v t e Routes of the Trans-Canada Highway system
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
Newfoundland	Route 1
Category Roads portal Canada portal WikiProject

v t e Ontario Provincial Highway Network
The King's Highways 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-series highways 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 409 410 412 416 417 418 420 427 QEW Former highways 2A 2B 2S 3B 4A 5A 7B 8A 8B 8D 11A 12B 14 15A 18 18A 18B 22 24A 25 29 30 31 32 35A 35B 36 38 39 40A 40B 40C 42 43 44 45 46 47 48B 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 59 61B 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 Proposed 413 Bradford Bypass
Secondary highways Secondary highways 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 518 519 520 522 522B 523 524 525 526 527 528 528A 529 529A 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 539A 540 540A 540B 541 541A 542 542A 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 550B 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 560A 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 577 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 607A 608 609 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 630 631 632 633 634 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 650 651 652 654 655 656 657 658 661 663 664 665 667 668 670 671 672 673 By district Algoma Cochrane Kenora Manitoulin Nipissing Parry Sound Rainy River Sudbury Thunder Bay Timiskaming
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• Trans-Canada Highway