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Ontario Highway 62

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Highway 62 marker
Highway 62
Madoc–Pembroke Road
Map
A map of Highway 62
  Highway 62   Connecting Links
  Former section
Route information
Maintained by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario
Length165.8 km[2] (103.0 mi)
ExistedAugust 11, 1937[1]–present
Major junctions
South end Highway 33 in Bloomfield
Major intersections Highway 401 in Belleville
 Highway 7 in Madoc
 Highway 28 in Bancroft
North end Highway 127 at Maynooth
Location
CountryCanada
ProvinceOntario
Highway system
← Highway 61→ Highway 63

King's Highway 62, commonly referred to as Highway 62, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The highway travels south–north from Highway 33 at Bloomfield in Prince Edward County, through Belleville, Madoc and Bancroft, to Maynooth, where it ends at a junction with Highway 127. Prior to 1997, the route continued north and east of Maynooth through Cobermere, Barry's Bay, Killaloe, Round Lake and Bonnechere to Highway 17 in Pembroke. This section of highway was redesignated Hastings Highlands Municipal Road 62, Renfrew County Road 62, and Renfrew County Road 58.

Highway 62 was designated by the Department of Highways (DHO), predecessor to the modern Ministry of Transportation, in 1937 along the Madoc–Pembroke Road between those two communities. A gap existed along the route between Barry's Bay and Round Lake for several decades pending construction of a new road which never took place. The highway was extended south from Madoc to Highway 14 at Foxboro in 1966. Two years later, Highway 521 was renumbered as part of Highway 62, and a concurrency established with Highway 60 between Barry's Bay and Killaloe, uniting the discontinuous sections. In the 1980s, it assumed the route of Highway  14 from Foxboro to Bloomfield, establishing the peak length of the highway at 294.7 km (183.1 mi). The northernmost portion of the route was renumbered Highway 148 in 1982.

Route description

Highway 62 at Bridge Street in Belleville

Highway 62 begins in the community of Bloomfield at a junction with Highway 33, the Loyalist Parkway, with which it shares a common terminus at Wellington Street. The first 650 metres (2,130 ft) of the road north of that intersection is maintained under a Connecting Link agreement.[3] Exiting Bloomfield, the highway winds north through several communities in Prince Edward County, including Huffs Corners where the Huff Estates Winery is located, Crofton, Mountain View and Fenwood Gardens before crossing the Norris Whitney Bridge over the Bay of Quinte into Belleville. It skirts the CFD Mountain View military base between Crofton and Mountain View.[4]

Within urbanized Belleville, Highway 62 serves as the primary north–south route. It is maintained under a Connecting Link agreement from the northern end of the Norris Whitney Bridge to the southern end of the Highway 401 interchange. The Connecting Link follows Bay Bridge Road, Dundas Street, Pinnacle Street, and Front Street North.[3][5] Prior to crossing the Moira River in downtown Belleville, Highway 62 encounters what was, until 1997, the southern terminus of Highway 37 at Station Street.[6]

After crossing over Highway 401 at the Exit 543 interchange, Highway 62 exits the urban portion of Belleville. It travels straight north until its path is interrupted by the Moira River approaching Foxboro; the highway bypasses to the west of that community along the boundary between Belleville and Quite West, meeting the southern terminus of former Highway 14 at Doucette Road. The former route through Foxboro is known as Ashley Street. Continuing along the bypass, the highway merges onto the Madoc Road at Halloway. Entering the municipality of Centre Hastings approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) north of Halloway, it follows the route of the historic settlement road north to Highway 7 at Madoc, passing through a mixture of farm fields and grasslands; the occasional forest interrupts the shorter vegetation, as well as the communities of West Huntingdon and Crookston.[4][5]

Highway 62 passing through Bannockburn

Within the village of Madoc, Highway 62 is maintained under a Connecting Link agreement as it passes through the centre of town. The Connecting Link begins just north of Charles Street and extends to south of Highway 7.[2][3] Now following the Hastings Colonization Road, an early pioneer settlement road,[7] the highway travels straight north into Madoc Township, passing through Eldorado, site of the first gold rush in Ontario.[8] At Keller Bridge, the highway enters the Canadian Shield, with farmland giving way to thick forests and frequent rock outcroppings for the remainder of its length. The next 50 km (30 mi) of Highway 62 bypasses the Hastings Colonization Road through the particularly barren townships of Tudor and Cashel and Limerick, with a combined population of under 1,000.[9][10] Only the communities of Bannockburn and Millbridge break the endless forests.[5]

Highway 62 north of Bancroft

Entering the larger rural Town of Bancroft, Highway  62 travels through the community of L'Amable and around the lake of the same name.[4] It enters the village of Bancroft, where it is maintained as a Connecting Link as it meanders alongside the York River. The Connecting Link begins south of Bay Lake Road and stretches 7.7 km (4.8 mi) through the village to Victoria Drive.[2][3] Within the centre of the village, Highway 62 intersects and is briefly concurrent with Highway 28 along Bridge Street, crossing the York River. South of this concurrency, it is known as Mill Street, while north of the concurrency it is known as Hastings Street.[5]

Parting ways with the York River, Highway 62 enters Hastings Highlands and passes through the communities of York River and Birds Creek, which form a continuous stretch of urban development along with the village of Bancroft. The highway then returns to thick forests, although the occasional farm dots the journey north, mostly surrounding the Hickey Settlement. At the Peterson Colonization Road, the highway makes a sharp curve east and enters Maynooth. It ends at the junction with Highway 127, with which it shares a terminus.[2][5] Prior to 1997, Highway 62 continued east and north along what is now known as Hastings Highlands Municipal Road 62, Renfrew County Road 62 and Renfrew County Road 58 via Cobermere, Barry's Bay, Killaloe, Round Lake Centre and Bonnechere to Highway 17 in Pembroke.[11][12]

History

1937–38 Ontario road map, showing the section of Highway 62 between Barry's Bay and Bonnechere that was never built

Highway 62 was first assumed by the DHO in 1937. On April 1 of that year, the DHO merged with the Department of Northern Development.[13] Following the merger, many new trunk roads through central and northern Ontario were designated as provincial highways. One of these was the Madoc–Pembroke Road, which became Highway 62 on August 11, 1937.[1] Originally, the route followed the Hastings Colonization Road, which was quickly determined to be too rough to upgrade. A new alignment was constructed to the east between Millbridge and L'Amable in the late 1930s. This bypass was opened to traffic on March 22, 1939.[14] Subsequently, the bypassed portion of the highway was decommissioned on April 11.[15]

At the time of its assumption, Highway 62 was split into two segments. The first section travelled from Madoc to Barry's Bay, the second from Pembroke to the community of Bonnechere, on the northwestern shore of Round Lake. It was originally planned to unite these segments by building a new highway mostly following the route of Paugh Lake Road.[note 1][16] This section was never built, and so the two sections of Highway 62 remained separated for a quarter century.[17]

Several changes occurred in the Round Lake area through the 1950s and 1960s. In 1956, Highway 521 was designated by the DHO between Brudenell and the northern segment of Highway 62 at Bonnechere Provincial Park.[18][19][20] Four years later, Highway 62 was extended concurrently along Highway 60 between Barry's Bay and Killaloe and north along Highway 521 to Tramore on the southeast side of Round Lake.[21][22] The remainder of Highway 521, between Tramore and Bonnechere Provincial Park, was renumbered Highway 62 in 1967, reuniting the two sections of the route.[23][24]

Animation of highway routes near Pembroke, from 1936 to now

Within Pembroke, Highway 62 initially ended at the intersection of Trafalgar Road and Pembroke Street West.[25] The completion of the Des Allumettes Bridge southeast of Pembroke, in 1957, resulted in the extension of Highway 62 to the Quebec boundary in 1960, almost entirely a concurrency with Highway 17.[26][27][28] In 1966, Highway 62 was extended south of Madoc to Highway 14 at Foxboro when several Hastings County roads were taken over by the DHO on April 1 of that year.[29]

The Norris Whitney Bridge over the Bay of Quinte was opened in December 1982, replacing the original 1891 swing bridge. Portions of the original causeway can still be seen alongside the current structure.[30] Shortly thereafter, by 1984, the section of Highway 14 south of Foxboro to Highway 33 at Bloomfield was renumbered as part of Highway 62.[31] Discussions have been underway since 2017 to build a second bridge, widening the highway from two to four lanes.[32]

As part of a series of budget cuts initiated by premier Mike Harris under his Common Sense Revolution platform in 1995, numerous highways deemed to no longer be of significance to the provincial network were decommissioned and responsibility for the routes transferred to a lower level of government, a process referred to as downloading. Portions of Highway 62 were consequently transferred to local jurisdictions in 1997 and 1998. On April 1, 1997, the section from the Laurentian Valley – Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards boundary east to Highway 17 was transferred to Renfrew County.[11] Renfrew quickly redesignated it as County Road 58.[33] On January 1, 1998, the section northeast of Highway 127 in Maynooth was transferred to Hastings and Renfrew counties. The concurrency with Highway 60 was discontinued as a result of this transfer.[12] Hastings County subsequently transferred its portion of the road to the townships of Monteagle and Bangor, Wicklow and McClure on April 15, 1998.[34][35]

Major intersections

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 62, as noted by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.[2] 

DivisionLocationkm[2]miDestinationsNotes
Prince Edward County0.00.0 Highway 33 east (Loyalist Parkway) – Picton, Kingston
5.33.3 County Road 1 (Scoharie Road)
8.45.2 County Road 4 – Gilbert Mills
12.47.7 County Road 14 (Burr Road) – Demorestville
24.815.4 County Road 28 – Rossmore
25.816.0 County Road 3 – Rossmore
Bay of Quinte25.9–
26.9		16.1–
16.7		Norris Whitney Bridge
HastingsBelleville26.916.7Beginning of Belleville Connecting Link agreement
27.517.1 County Road 2 west (Dundas Street)Beginning of former Highway 2 concurrency
28.517.7 County Road 2 east (Dundas Street)End of former Highway 2 concurrency
32.220.0 Highway 401 – Toronto, KingstonHighway 401 exit 453; end of Belleville Connecting Link agreement
Foxboro36.722.8Ashley StreetOriginal route of Highway 14
38.824.1 County Road 5 (Frankford Road) – Frankford
40.124.9 County Road 14 (Foxboro–Stirling Road) – StirlingFormerly Highway 14
West Huntingdon Station50.931.6 County Road 8 (Stirling Road (west) / Moira Road (east)) – Moira
Crookston61.338.1 County Road 38 (Crookston Road) – Campbellford, Tweed
Madoc68.542.6Shoreline RoadBeginning of Madoc Connecting Link agreement
70.2–
70.3		43.6–
43.7		 County Road 23 (St. Lawrence Street)Highway 62 follows St. Lawrence Street for 1 block
71.244.2  Highway 7 / TCH – Peterborough, PerthEnd of Madoc Connecting Link agreement
Bannockburn87.254.2Bannockburn Road – Cooper
MillbridgeOld Hastings RoadOriginal route of Highway 62; Hastings Colonization Road
Limerick119.374.1Township Road 620 (Coe Hill Road) – Ormsby
L'Amable134.183.3Bay Lake Road / Detlor Road – Detlor
Bancroft139.686.7Beginning of Bancroft Connecting Link agreement
141.988.2 Highway 28 – Lakefield
147.491.6End of Bancroft Connecting Link agreement
Hastings Highlands154.095.7Hybla Road – Hybla
Maynooth165.8103.0 Highway 127 – Whitney
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

Notes
  1. ^ Some maps mistakenly show the route as complete between Barry's Bay and Pembroke. The official Ontario road map for 1937–1938 lists a distance of 50.2 km (31.2 mi) between Barry's Bay and Alice, while the 1940–1941 map divides the highway into two parts.
Sources
  1. ^ a b "Appendix No. 3 - Schedule of Assumptions and Reversions of Sections of the King's Highway System for the Year Ending March 31, 1938". Annual Report (Report). Department of Highways. March 31, 1938. pp. 80–81. Retrieved February 3, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ a b c d e Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (2008). "Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) counts". Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d Connecting Links Program 2021–22 (PDF) (Report). Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. August 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Ontario Back Road Atlas (Map). Cartography by MapArt. Peter Heiler. 2010. pp. 34–35, 46, 62. §§ S45–G50. ISBN 978-1-55198-226-7.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Highway 62 - Length and Route" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  6. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by Cartography Section. Ministry of Transportation and Communications. 1974. Belleville inset.
  7. ^ Young, Peter (Autumn 2004). "The Old Hastings Colonization Road". The Country Connection. No. 47. Pinecone Publishing. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  8. ^ O'Connor, Joe (October 16, 2019). "An Historic Gold Mine in a Tiny Ontario Town Could be the Epicentre of Canada's Next Great Gold Rush". The Financial Post. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  9. ^ "Census Profile, 2016 Census: Tudor and Cashel, Township". Statistics Canada. 8 February 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2019.
  10. ^ "Census Profile, 2016 Census: Limerick, Township". Statistics Canada. 8 February 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2019.
  11. ^ a b Highway Transfers List (Report). Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. April 1, 1997. p. 7.
  12. ^ a b Highway Transfers List - "Who Does What" (Report). Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. June 20, 2001. pp. 6, 13.
  13. ^ Shragge, John; Bagnato, Sharon (1984). From Footpaths to Freeways. Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Historical Committee. p. 71. ISBN 0-7743-9388-2.
  14. ^ "Appendix 3 - Schedule of Assumptions and Reversions of Sections". Annual Report (Report). Department of Highways. March 31, 1939. p. 84.
  15. ^ "Appendix 3 - Schedule of Assumptions and Reversions of Sections". Annual Report (Report). Department of Highways. March 31, 1940. p. 93.
  16. ^ Staff Reporter (August 24, 1933). "Program of Road Work in the Ottawa Valley is Announced by Dunlop". Ottawa Citizen. Vol. 48, no. 216. Retrieved January 10, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by D. Barclay. Ontario Department of Highways. 1938–39. §§ O3–P5. Retrieved November 11, 2021 – via Archives of Ontario.
  18. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by C.P. Robins. Ontario Department of Highways. 1956. §§ O37–P38. Retrieved November 11, 2021 – via Archives of Ontario.
  19. ^ "Ontario Secondary Roads Now Designated 500, 600". Vol. 112, no. 33, 119. The Globe and Mail. February 4, 1956. p. 4. Two new Ontario road numbers appear on the province's 1956 official road map which will be ready for distribution next week. The new numbers are the 500 and 600 series and designate hundreds of miles of secondary roads which are wholly maintained by the Highways Department. More than 100 secondary roads will have their own numbers and signs this year. All of these secondary roads were taken into the province's main highways system because they form important connecting links with the King's Highways
  20. ^ Annual Report (Report). Department of Highways. March 31, 1957. p. 87.
  21. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by C.P. Robins. Ontario Department of Highways. 1960. §§ O37–38. Retrieved November 28, 2021 – via Archives of Ontario.
  22. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by C.P. Robins. Ontario Department of Highways. 1961. §§ O37–38. Retrieved November 28, 2021 – via Archives of Ontario.
  23. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by K.G. Gould. Ontario Department of Highways. 1967. §§ O37–38. Retrieved November 28, 2021 – via Archives of Ontario.
  24. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by Photogrammetry Division. Ontario Department of Highways. 1968. §§ P26–27. Retrieved November 28, 2021 – via Archives of Ontario.
  25. ^ MacGregor Bay, Ontario. Map Sheet 31 F/14b (Map) (1 ed.). 1:25,000. Cartography by Surveys and Mapping Branch. Department of Energy, Mines and Resources. 1974. Retrieved May 23, 2021 – via Scholars GeoPortal.
  26. ^ Adam, Mohammed (January 16, 2012). "Bridge Work for the Capital". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
  27. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by C.P. Robins. Ontario Department of Highways. 1960. Pembroke; Mileage Tables inset. Retrieved November 28, 2021 – via Archives of Ontario.
  28. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by C.P. Robins. Ontario Department of Highways. 1961. Pembroke; Mileage Tables inset. Retrieved November 28, 2021 – via Archives of Ontario.
  29. ^ "Chronology". Annual Report for the Fiscal Year. Department of Highways. March 31, 1967. p. 315. April 1—Hastings County Road between Madoc and Foxboro was assumed as part of King's Highway 62.
  30. ^ "Bay of Quinte Bridges". Community Archives of Belleville and Hastings County. Community Archives of Belleville and Hastings County. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
  31. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by Cartography Section, Surveys and Plans Office. Ministry of Transportation and Communications. 1984–85. §§ G–H27. Retrieved November 28, 2021 – via Archives of Ontario.
  32. ^ Thomas, Mary (December 11, 2017). "Second Norris Whitney Bridge Coming". Quinte News. Quinte Broadcasting Company. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
  33. ^ Boswell, Randy (July 21, 1997). "On A (Back) Road to Ruin?". City. The Ottawa Citizen. p. B3. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  34. ^ "By-law 98-21" (PDF). The Corporation of the County of Hastings. March 26, 1998. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 14, 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  35. ^ "By-law 98-24" (PDF). The Corporation of the County of Hastings. March 26, 1998. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 14, 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
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