Highway 17B was formerly the designation for six
business route
A business route (or business loop, business spur, or city route) in the United States is a short special route connected to a ''parent'' numbered highway at its beginning, then routed through the central business district of a nearby city or ...
s of
Highway 17, the main route 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 ...
through the
Canadian province
Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...
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 ...
. Each generally followed the original route of Highway17 through the town or city that it served, and was subsequently given the Highway17B designation when a newer
bypass route was constructed to either reduce traffic pressure on the local street network, or provide a better thoroughfare that avoided urban areas altogether.
Four of the five original 17B routes have been decommissioned by the
Ministry of Transportation
A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...
(MTO), and are now maintained only by their local municipalities. However, in some cases the "Highway 17B" name may still be informally used by local residents to refer to the routes, and old highway shields may still be visible along the route in some locations. The lone remaining original 17B designation exists in North Bay. A new Highway17B was designated in 2009, following a dispute between the MTO and the
Garden River First Nation
Garden River First Nation, also known as Ketegaunseebee (''Gitigaan-ziibi Anishinaabe'' in the Ojibwe language), is an Ojibwa band located at Garden River 14 near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.
The Garden River reserve consists of two non-co ...
.
This article lists the various routes of Highway17B by location, alphabetically. Current routes are listed first, followed by former routes.
Garden River
![Hwy 17B Garden River sign](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Hwy_17B_Garden_River_sign.png)
The Garden River portion of Highway17B follows the original route of the Trans-Canada Highway within
Algoma District
Algoma District is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario.
The name was created by an American ethnologist, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864), who was appointed Indian agent to the Ojibwe in ...
into eastern Sault Ste. Marie. Negotiations for the construction of a four-lane bypass of
Echo Bay began in the mid-1970s, though ultimately it would take until 1994 for the province to reach an agreement for land transfers with the
Garden River First Nation
Garden River First Nation, also known as Ketegaunseebee (''Gitigaan-ziibi Anishinaabe'' in the Ojibwe language), is an Ojibwa band located at Garden River 14 near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.
The Garden River reserve consists of two non-co ...
.
Following completion of the
expressway
Expressway may refer to:
* Controlled-access highway, the highest-grade type of highway with access ramps, lane markings, etc., for high-speed traffic.
* Limited-access road, a lower grade of highway or arterial road.
*Expressway, the fictional s ...
bypass in 2005, the province of Ontario redesignated the former portion of Highway 17 as
Highway 638. The Garden River First Nation insisted on the designation of Highway 17B instead, even going so far as to post their own non-official Highway 17B signs on the route.
As of February 2009, at the southern/eastern terminus with Highway 17, the highway has been officially rebadged as Highway 17B. The signage is in evidence until the intersection of Highway 638 at
Echo Bay, after which the route no longer has any official identification. The southern terminus of 17B at Highway 17 features no 17B signage whatsoever. The intersection is identified from 17 simply as Bar River Road. However, the MTO Annual Average Daily Traffic Logs include the Garden River Highway 17B, as do some road maps.
In February 2010, Garden River's band council publicly warned that they would consider imposing
tolls on the routes of both Highway17 and Highway17B through their territory if the provincial government did not assist the council with a funding shortfall of approximately C$1 million.
At some point since 2010, the MTO has since installed Highway17B signs at the intersection of Syrette Lake Road, and at its western/northern terminus with Highway17. Further signs were added at the
Highway 638/ Church Street intersection in Echo Bay by 2012.
Major intersections
North Bay
The Highway17B route through
North Bay originally travelled along Main Street from the western city limits to Algonquin Avenue, where it split into two one-way routes, McIntyre Street for westbound traffic and Oak Street for eastbound traffic. The Highway17B designation travelled along McIntyre and Oak between Algonquin Avenue and Fisher Street, and Fisher Street constituted the remainder of the easterly route, rejoining Highway17 near Northgate Square shopping mall.
McIntyre and Oak Streets, as well as the small portions of Fisher Street and Algonquin Avenue which connected the two one-way streets, were also designated as part of
Highway 11B. However, after January1, 1998, the eastern end of Highway17B was rerouted along former
Highway 63 (Cassells Street) to the intersection of Highway11 and Highway17 (North Bay Bypass) and Highway63. The section within North Bay was maintained under a
Connecting Link
The Connecting Link program is a provincial subsidy provided to municipalities to assist with road construction, maintenance and repairs in the Canadian province of Ontario. Roads which are designated as ''connecting links'' form the portions of ...
agreement until November 1998, after which it was repealed. This left only the short section outside the western city limits under provincial maintenance.
Major intersections
Ottawa
Highway17B through Ottawa somewhat followed the route of Highway17 prior to the building of the Queensway, although it changed in subsequent years. Until the early 1960s, Highway17 followed
Carling Avenue
Carling Avenue is a major east–west arterial road in the west end of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs from March Road in Kanata to Bronson Avenue in the Glebe. The road is named for John Carling, founder of Carling Brewery and Conservative M ...
,
Bronson Avenue
Bronson Avenue ( Ottawa Road #79) is a major north-south arterial road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It starts as a continuation of the Airport Parkway, which is an expressway to the Macdonald-Cartier International Airport. It continues past Carl ...
, Laurier Avenue, and eventually
Rideau Street
Rideau Street (french: Rue Rideau) is a major street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and one of Ottawa's oldest and most famous streets running from Wellington Street in the west to Montreal Road in the east where it connects to the Vanier ...
and
Montreal Road
Montreal Road (French: ''Chemin de Montréal''), also known as Ottawa Road #34, is a major east-west Ottawa road that links Lowertown to Vanier and the farther eastern neighbourhoods of Ottawa. Until downloading in 1998, it was part of the p ...
, as it passed through Ottawa.
Construction of the Queensway resulted in frequent changes to Highway17. While the first section opened on November25, 1960,
the full route through Ottawa was not completed until the central section was opened on October28, 1966.
Following this, the Highway17 designation was applied along the Queensway.
Consequently, the Highway17B designation was applied through Ottawa, following former portions of Highway17. The 1967 Ontario Road Map shows Highway17B beginning at the intersection of Carling Avenue and Pinecrest Road; it followed Richmond Road,
Wellington Street, Rideau Street, and Montreal Road to end at the
interchange with
Ottawa Road 174
Ottawa Road 174, formerly Ottawa-Carleton Regional Road 174 and commonly referred to as Highway 174,
is a List of numbered roads in Ottawa, city-maintained road in the City of Ottawa which serves the eastern suburbs of Orléans, Ontario, Orléans ...
(then a portion of the Queensway).
This route remained until 1970.
Highway17B reappears in the 1977 edition of the Ontario Road Map, following Richmond Street from its interchange with the Queensway. From there it continued to Churchill Avenue, which it followed north to Scott Street. Scott Street travelled east to Wellington Street, which connected to Rideau Street and Montreal Road to end at the Queensway at
Beacon Hill North.
This route remained in place until 1982, after which Highway17B followed Carling Avenue, thence easterly to Bronson Avenue. It then headed north along Bronson to the one-way pair of Chamberlain Avenue eastbound and Catherine Street westbound between Bronson and another pair of one-way streets:
Kent Street northbound and
O'Connor Street
O'Connor Street is a downtown arterial road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is a north-south route, operating one way southbound, providing a key thoroughfare parallel to Bank Street.
The roadway begins at Wellington Street, at Parliament Hill, ...
southbound. It travelled along those streets between Catherine/Chamberlain and Wellington Street, and thence easterly, passing
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill (french: Colline du Parlement, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings, and their architectu ...
. The route then continued easterly along Rideau Street and Montreal Road to the Queensway.
Highway17B continued to exist up until 1998, when it was decommissioned and transferred to the
Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton
The Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton was a Regional Municipality and Census Division in Ontario, Canada, that existed between January 1, 1969, and January 1, 2001, and was primarily centred on the City of Ottawa. It was created in 1 ...
. The route was likely maintained under a
Connecting Link
The Connecting Link program is a provincial subsidy provided to municipalities to assist with road construction, maintenance and repairs in the Canadian province of Ontario. Roads which are designated as ''connecting links'' form the portions of ...
agreement with the region and the City of Ottawa, as it is not listed in the April 1997 or January 1998 highway transfer lists, nor the 1989 or 1997 highway distance tables,
yet appears up to the 1996 Ontario Road Map.
Sault Ste. Marie
Highway 17B in
Sault Ste. Marie consisted of two interconnected routes that connected Highway17 with the
International Bridge, via a
one-way pairing through downtown Sault Ste. Marie. According to the 1989 Highway distance table,
one branch of Highway17B began at the intersection of Black Road and Trunk Road, following the latter southwest to Wellington Street, thence westerly to Pim Road / Great Northern Road, which it followed north to Highway17 at Second Line. The second branch followed a complex of streets through the downtown core. Beginning at the foot of the International Bridge, the route split into a one-way pairing at Huron Street. Eastbound traffic was directed along Bay Street to Pim Street, north to Queen Street, east to Church Street thence north to the first branch at Wellington Street; westbound traffic followed Wellington Street, Cathcart Street and Huron Street to the bridge; Andrew Street provided a two-way connection between the one-way streets.
Although the route is no longer officially part of the provincial highway system, some signage remains identifying the route as 17B.
Thessalon
![Highway 17B - Thessalon 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Highway_17B_-_Thessalon_2016.png)
The Highway 17B route through
Thessalon
Thessalon is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located at the junction of Highway 17 and Highway 129 on the north shore of Lake Huron. It is surrounded by, but not part of, the municipality of Huron Shores, and is part of Algoma Di ...
travelled along Lakeside Drive, Frances Street, Huron Street and River Street, dipping south of the present Highway17 route through the town. Highway17B connected to
Highway 129 at its eastern connection to Highway17.
The Thessalon Bypass was opened in 1958.
As it does not appear on any road maps, it was likely a
Connecting Link
The Connecting Link program is a provincial subsidy provided to municipalities to assist with road construction, maintenance and repairs in the Canadian province of Ontario. Roads which are designated as ''connecting links'' form the portions of ...
.
Thunder Bay
Highway17B between Port Arthur and Fort William (which later amalgamated to become
Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...
) was created in 1968 when the Highway11/17 concurrency was realigned to follow the Thunder Bay Expressway, and was cosigned with
Highway 11B for its entire length.
Highway11B/17B started at Arthur Street and the Thunder Bay Expressway. It travelled east along Arthur Street to May Street, which it turned north along. May Street became Memorial Avenue at the
McIntyre River
McIntyre, McEntire, MacIntyre, McAteer, and McIntire are Scottish and Irish surnames derived from the Gaelic ' literally meaning "Son of the Craftsman or Mason", but more commonly cited as "son of the Carpenter."Scottish Clans: MacIntyre - Origin ...
, and farther on became Algoma Street beyond John Street. At Bay Street, the route turned southeast towards
Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...
. At Cumberland Street, the highway turned northeast and continued along the lake side on that street. At the
Current River, Cumberland Street became Hodder Avenue, which continued north to the Thunder Bay Expressway.
The Highway11B/17B designation remained on the official Ontario road map until 1998.
However, it is not listed amongst the
decommissioned highways of April1, 1997, nor January1, 1998.
It is unclear when the route was decommissioned.
References
{{Ontario King's Highways
017B
017B
Former segments of the Trans-Canada Highway