King's Highway 66, commonly referred to as Highway 66, is a
provincially-maintained highway in the
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
province of
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
. Located in the
Timiskaming District
Timiskaming is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. The district was created in 1912 from parts of Algoma, Nipissing, and Sudbury districts. In 1921, Cochrane District was created from par ...
, the highway begins at
Matachewan
Matachewan is a township in Timiskaming, Northeastern Ontario, Canada, located at the end of Ontario Highway 66 along the Montreal River. The name is derived from the Cree word for "meeting of the currents".
The town's main economy is based on ...
near a junction with
Highway 65. It extends eastward for to the
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
boundary just east of
Kearns. At the provincial boundary, the highway continues eastward as
Route 117. From
Highway 11 ( east of Matachewan) at
Kenogami Lake
Kenogami lake is a long lake in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of south-central Quebec, Canada. Situated at an altitude of , the lake is long and deep. "Kénogami" means "long lake" in the Montagnais dialect and was originally used to ref ...
eastwards to the Quebec boundary, Highway66 is designated as part of the
Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean o ...
.
Route description
Beginning at the village of Matachewan, where the highway continues west as
Highway 566, the route travels east to a junction with Highway65. From there to the community of Kenogami Lake, on Highway11, the highway passes through a wilderness, encountering few roads or signs of humanity. Instead the highway winds through rock cuts,
muskeg
Muskeg (Ojibwe: mashkiig; cr, maskīk; french: fondrière de mousse, lit. ''moss bog'') is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bog or ...
and thick
coniferous
Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...
forests. After intersecting Highway11, the route continues east through the controversially-named community of
Swastika
The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...
.
It encounters
Highway 112 between Swastika and the community of Chaput Hughes, after which the highway enters the town of
Kirkland Lake
Kirkland Lake is a town and municipality in Timiskaming District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. The 2016 population, according to Statistics Canada, was 7,981.
The community name was based on a nearby lake which in turn was named after Winnifre ...
. East of the town, Highway66 passes through
King Kirkland and encounters
Highway 672.
Highway66 returns to a remote setting, eventually passing through the community of
Larder Lake, where it encounters
Highway 624. For the remaining , the route snakes through the wilderness, passing through the communities of
Virginiatown and Kearns between long segments of forest. Immediately east of Kearns, the highway crosses the Ontario–Quebec boundary, where it continues as
Quebec Route 117 to
Rouyn-Noranda
Rouyn-Noranda ( 2021 population 42,313) is a city on Osisko Lake in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada.
The city of Rouyn-Noranda is a coextensive with a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census ...
.
The entirety of Highway66 is located within
Timiskaming District
Timiskaming is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. The district was created in 1912 from parts of Algoma, Nipissing, and Sudbury districts. In 1921, Cochrane District was created from par ...
in the rugged and remote
Canadian Shield
The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...
. Outside of the communities along the route, there is almost no habitation or services. Consequently, traffic volumes drop considerably east of Highway11.
History
Highway66 was first assumed by the
Department of Highways on September22, 1937, shortly after its merger with the Department of Northern Development (DND) on April1.
The DND created the road during the early 1930s, connecting several rail stops. The Kirkland Lake area is the site of several gold deposits that were discovered during the first quarter of the century, and the King's Highway status brought about new improvements to help service the mines. Initially, the route was only long, connecting Kirkland Lake with the Ontario–Quebec boundary. On November16, 1955, the route was extended west to Highway65 near Matachewan.
Although several minor realignments to improve the rugged route have been made since then, it did not change significantly between 1956 and 1997. On April1, 1997, a section of the highway, between Goldthorpe Drive and Main Street, was transferred to the town of Kirkland Lake.
Beginning in August 2011, the
Ministry of Transportation of Ontario
The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is the provincial ministry of the Government of Ontario that is responsible for transport infrastructure and related law in Ontario. The ministry traces its roots back over a century to the 1890s, when the pro ...
undertook the Virginiatown Relocation Study to determine a new location around the town and bypass the abandoned
Kerr Addison Mine.
Construction was announced in 2015 and was completed sometime before the end of 2017.
Major intersections
See also
*
Golden Highway
Golden Highway is a highway, located in the Hunter Region, Hunter and Orana (New South Wales), Orana regions of New South Wales, Australia. It runs eastwards from Dubbo towards Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle on the coast, allowing roa ...
References
External links
*
Highway 66 pictures and information
{{Ontario King's Highways
Kirkland Lake
066
Ontario 066
Highway 066