King's Highway 125, commonly referred to as Highway 125, 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 ...
. It is the second northernmost provincial highway in Ontario, behind
Secondary Highway 599. The route connects
Highway 105 in
Red Lake with Cochenour to the northeast. It was built in the early 1950s and assumed as a gravel-surfaced provincial highway in 1955. The route was paved in 1962 and remains generally unchanged today.
Route description
Highway125 is long and travels from Highway105 in Red Lake to the
ferry
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
docks in the Cochenour/McKenzie Island area.
Beyond Cochenour and Balmertown, unmaintained
forestry
Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...
roads travel northwards to
Pikangikum
The Pikangikum First Nation (, Ojibwe language, Ojibwe: ''Bigaanjigamiing'', unpointed ᐱᑲᐣᒋᑲᒥᐠ,,pointed ᐱᑳᐣᒋᑲᒦᐣᐠ) is an Ojibwe First Nations in Canada, First Nation located on the Pikangikum 14 Indian reserve, Rese ...
, and link to
winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...
/
ice road
An ice road or ice bridge is a human-made structure that runs on a frozen water surface (a river, a lake or a sea water expanse).Masterson, D. and Løset, S., 2011, ISO 19906: Bearing capacity of ice and ice roads, Proceedings of the 21st Inte ...
s that service communities even further north. The only provincially maintained highway that travels further north is secondary
Highway 599 to
Pickle Lake
Pickle Lake is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the most northerly community in the province that has year-round access by road. Located north of Thunder Bay, highway access is via Highway 599, the only access road to the t ...
.
The route travels through mostly forested areas along its length, skirting the edge of Balmertown. Only the final kilometre is urbanised.
Beginning at Highway105 on the southern outskirts of the town of Red Lake, Highway125 heads east into a heavily forested region in the
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 ...
, eventually making a gradual turn to the north. After crossing the
Chukuni River, the highway travels near the eastern shores of
Red Lake as it provides access to waterfront properties. The highway curves northwest to pass between the Red Lake Golf Course and the western edge of Balmertown; Dickenson Road and Mine Road provide access into the mining town from the highway.
The route then curves westward as it travels along the edge of the
Red Lake Mine
The Red Lake mine was one of the largest gold mines in Canada and in the world. The mine is located in northwestern Ontario at Red Lake, Ontario, Red Lake. The mine had estimated reserves of 3.23 million oz of gold in 2013. Note that the Campbell ...
, one of the largest gold mines in the world.
Continuing into forests heading west, the route travels south of the Red Lake Airport before curving to the northeast around the western side of the airport. At the entrance to the airport, Highway125 abruptly turns northeast and into Cochenour. It passes through the town, although few properties have entrances along the road.
The highway ends at the Cochenour Ferry Dock,
where the Miss McKenzie II ferries passengers across to McKenzie Island; it is the only scheduled ferry service to an island in northwestern Ontario.
History
Highway 125 was first built as a branch off of the relatively new Red Lake Road (Highway105) in the mid-1950s to connect the town with the
Red Lake Airport
Red Lake Airport is located north of Red Lake, Ontario, Canada.
Red Lake Airport is located south of the community of Cochenour, Ontario. The airport serves as a point of call for air carriers offering scheduled passenger service, and an op ...
to the east. While the
Department of Highways (DHO) committed to building a road to connect Red Lake with Balmertown, Cochenour, and the ferry to McKenzie Island in August 1947,
repairs to highways elsewhere in the province delayed the onset of construction until the spring of 1949.
The future route of the highway first appears on the 1952 official Ontario road map.
Highway125 was assumed by the DHO on November23, 1955, travelling as far as the airport southeast of Cochenour. In 1957, the route was extended northwest to the Ferry docks to McKenzie Island in Cochenour.
While initially gravel, the route was paved alongside Highway105 in 1962 and 1963.
Aside from a small realignment near the southern end,
the route has remained unchanged since then.
Major intersections
References
External links
Ontario Highway 125 Photos
{{Ontario King's Highways
125 125 may refer to:
* 125 (number), a natural number
*AD 125, a year in the 2nd century AD
* 125 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC
*125 (dinghy)
* 125 (New Jersey bus)
See also
* 12/5 (disambiguation)
* Unbipentium
An extended periodic table the ...
Roads in Kenora District