King's Highway 49, commonly referred to as Highway 49, 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 ...
. The highway travels across the Quinte Skyway and through the
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory is the main First Nation reserve of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation. The territory is located in Ontario east of Belleville on the Bay of Quinte. Tyendinaga is located near the site of the former Mohawk ...
south of
Marysville.
A previous iteration of Highway49 existed between 1936 and 1961 from
Kleinburg
Kleinburg is an unincorporated village in the city of Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, an art gallery with a focus on the Group of Seven, and the Kortright Centre for Conservation. In 2001, the villa ...
west to the
York County boundary south of
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...
, which is today known as
York Regional Road 49 (Nashville Road). The current Highway49 was created in 1965 as an internal designation for the proposed route connecting the newly-opened
Highway 401
King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one,
is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian provin ...
with the skyway over the
Bay of Quinte
The Bay of Quinte () is a long, narrow bay shaped like the letter "Z" on the northern shore of Lake Ontario in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is just west of the head of the Saint Lawrence River that drains the Great Lakes into the Gulf of ...
. By 1966, the route was signed south to Picton along what was
Highway 41. The skyway opened in 1967, replacing a ferry crossing and completing Highway49.
The route remained unchanged until the late 1990s, when more than half of the highway was transferred to the jurisdiction of local governments. The Quinte Skyway, as well as the portion through the Mohawk territory were retained in the provincial highway system, resulting in Highway49 not connecting with any other provincial highway.
Route description
Highway 49 is a short highway that connects the county maintained roads that once formed a part of it. The province
transferred the majority of the route to
Prince Edward County and
Hastings County
Hastings County is located in the province of Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it is located on the border of Eastern Ontario and Central Ontario. Hastings County is the second-largest county in Ontario, after Renfrew County, and its county sea ...
in 1998. However, the Quinte Skyway (constructed in 1967) and the section lying within the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory remain under provincial jurisdiction. At the southern end of the skyway, the route connects with
Prince Edward County Road 49, which continues south to
Picton, as well as County Road 15 and County Road 35. At the northern end of the skyway, the highway intersects the former
Highway 2, which travels east to the town of
Deseronto
Deseronto is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, in Hastings County, located at the mouth of the Napanee River on the shore of the Bay of Quinte, on the northern side of Lake Ontario.
The town was named for Captain John Deseronto, a nativ ...
. From there it travels north to the northern edge of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory,
after which it becomes Tyendinaga Township Road2 for approximately to the
Highway 401
King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one,
is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian provin ...
interchange.
History
Two roads have bore the designation of Highway49 within Ontario. The first existed between 1936 and 1972 in York County. The second was designated in 1965, and exists to this day.
1936–1961
Prior to the present Highway49 being assumed by the Department of Highways (DHO), predecessor to the modern
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), a previous route in York County, now the
Regional Municipality of York
The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional M ...
, was designated as Highway49. The original Highway49 travelled along present-day York Regional Road49 (Nashville Road) between
Highway 50 and
Kleinburg
Kleinburg is an unincorporated village in the city of Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, an art gallery with a focus on the Group of Seven, and the Kortright Centre for Conservation. In 2001, the villa ...
. It was assumed by the DHO on August5, 1936, at a distance of ;
it was already paved.
The route remained as-is for 25years before being transferred back to York County at some point in 1961.
1965 present
The current iteration of Highway49 was created in February 1965, when the southern, discontinuous section of Highway41 north of Picton was renumbered.
Prior to this, Highway41 had two separate sections: one which ran north from Highway2 at
Napanee
Greater Napanee is a town in Eastern Ontario, southeastern Ontario, Canada, approximately west of Kingston, Ontario, Kingston and the county seat of Lennox and Addington County. It is located on the eastern end of the Bay of Quinte. Greater Nap ...
, and another that travelled north from Picton alongside the Bay of Quinte. The latter portion followed the present-day Prince Edward County Road49 as far as Roblin Mills, where it curved to follow County Road35. This road was known as the Lower High Shore Road; there was no road directly north from Roblin Mills until the 1960s. Highway41 passed through
Mount Carmel
Mount Carmel ( he, הַר הַכַּרְמֶל, Har haKarmel; ar, جبل الكرمل, Jabal al-Karmil), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias ( ar, link=no, جبل مار إلياس, Jabal Mār Ilyās, lit=Mount Saint Elias/Elijah), is a c ...
before ending at
Cole's Wharf, where a ferry crossed to
Huff's Wharf. The length of this section was .
In preparation for the construction of the Quinte Skyway, the DHO took over of Marysville Road from the intersection of Highway2 and
Highway 502 (Belleville Road) to the soon-to-be completed Highway401 interchange on June26, 1963.
Construction of the Quinte Skyway began with the awarding of a contract in November 1964.
The DHO had planned to begin work in September 1962, but funding was unavailable.
Severe winter weather prevented work from proceeding until the spring of 1965.
Construction proceeded simultaneously on realigning the highway south to Picton, bypassing several portions and building a new road north from Roblin Mills in the process.
An inland bypass was built around the Essroc cement plant, which opened in 1958.
Old sections of the highway are now known as White Chapel Road and Lower High Shore Road.
The Quinte Skyway and realigned Highway49 were both completed in September 1967,
with premier
John Robarts
John Parmenter Robarts (January 11, 1917 – October 18, 1982) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th premier of Ontario from 1961 to 1971. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.
Early life
Roba ...
opening the bridge during a
motorcade
A motorcade, or autocade, is a procession of vehicles.
Etymology
The term ''motorcade'' was coined by Lyle Abbot (in 1912 or 1913 when he was automobile editor of the ''Arizona Republican''), and is formed after ''cavalcade'', playing off of ...
on September6.
Highway49 remained unchanged for 30years, until the late 1990s. As part of a series of budget cuts initiated by premier
Mike Harris
Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...
under his
Common Sense Revolution
The phrase Common Sense Revolution (CSR) has been used as a political slogan to describe conservative platforms with a main goal of reducing taxes while balancing the budget by reducing the size and role of government. It has been used in places ...
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
In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote ...
. On January1, 1998, the entire route of Highway49 was downloaded to Hastings County and Prince Edward County.
Hastings County, which does not maintain roads or bridges, in turn transferred its section to
Tyendinaga Township and the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. The territory was unable to afford maintenance of the highly-travelled route, forcing the MTO to retain ownership of the highway within the territory.
Major intersections
References
External links
Bay of Quinte Skyway Bridge RehabilitationHighway 49 - Length and Route
{{Ontario King's Highways
049