King's Highway 127, commonly referred to as Highway 127, 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 route begins in

Maynooth Maynooth (; ga, Maigh Nuad) is a university town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to Maynooth University (part of the National University of Ireland and also known as the National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and St Patrick's ...

, connecting Highway 62 north of Bancroft with Highway 60 in the township of

South Algonquin South Algonquin is a township municipality in Nipissing District, Ontario, Canada. Located south of Algonquin Provincial Park, it is the sole populated portion of the district that lies ''south'' of the traditional dividing line between Norther ...

, east of Whitney and

Algonquin Provincial Park Algonquin Provincial Park is a provincial park located between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River in Ontario, Canada, mostly within the Unorganized South Part of Nipissing District. Established in 1893, it is the oldest provincial park in Can ...

. The entire route is patrolled by the

Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. Under its provincial mandate, the OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways, protects provincial government buildings and officials, patrols unincorp ...

(OPP). Highway 127 was designated in late 1955, generally following the same route as today, with the exception of the northern terminus. During the early 1960s, a new road was constructed east of Whitney, bypassing the old highway for several kilometres. By 1963, the bypass was complete and Highway 127 was rerouted onto it.

Route description

Highway 127 is a remote connector highway that lies east of Algonquin Park, the oldest provincial park in Ontario and one of the most frequented camping grounds in the world. It connects the northern end of Highway 62 in Maynooth with Highway 60 east of Whitney. The only community Highway 127 passes through is Lake St. Peter. It passes through large swaths of undeveloped forest on its journey, and is rather remote; aside from the towns at the northern and southern terminii, the only named community on Highway 127 is Lake St. Peter. Like most routes which pass through 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 ...

, Highway 127 travels through rock cuts and

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 p ...

-ridden terrain in the midst of dense

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 ext ...

forests. There is little agricultural activity along the route. Within Maynooth, Highway 127 serves nearly three times as many vehicles as the rest of the route; while a daily average of 1800 vehicles use Highway 127 in Maynooth, only 650 travel the length of the route. As with other provincial highways in Ontario, Highway 127 is patrolled by the OPP.

History

Highway 127 was first designated in 1955 along an existing road between Maynooth and Whitney. The section within the Hastings County was designated on October 19 and the section within Nipissing District on November 16. The highway was long when it was designated. It was paved as far north as Lake St. Peter, after which it was a

gravel road A gravel road is a type of unpaved road surfaced with gravel that has been brought to the site from a quarry or stream bed. They are common in less-developed nations, and also in the rural areas of developed nations such as Canada and the Unit ...

. Over the next several years, the highway was paved north towards Whitney. In the early 1960s, it was decided to bypass to the east of the northernmost section of the highway. Construction began in 1961 and was completed by 1963, cutting off the length of the route. Aside from minor realignments, the route of Highway 127 has not changed since then.

Major intersections

References

External links

Highway 127 at onthighways.com
{{Ontario King's Highways 127