King's Highway 17A, commonly referred to as Highway 17A or as the Kenora By-Pass, is an

alternate route An official alternate route is a special route in the United States that provides an alternate alignment for a highway. They are loop roads and found in many road systems in the United States including the U.S. Highway system and various state a ...

of Highway 17 around the city of

Kenora Kenora (), previously named Rat Portage (french: Portage-aux-Rats), is a city situated on the Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada, close to the Manitoba boundary, and about east of Winnipeg by road. It is the seat of Kenora District. The his ...

, in 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 Nor ...

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 was built along a former

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...

right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

, and has two westbound passing lanes in separate parts, and one eastbound passing lane.

Route description

Although it is not an official part of the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, 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 A ...

, Highway 17A is designated as the through route when travelling into Kenora on the Trans-Canada. The road also provides access to

Kenora Airport Kenora Airport is located east northeast of Kenora, Ontario, Canada. The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) on a call-out basis from the Fort Frances-Internationa ...

, but otherwise avoids the built-up areas of the city. The highway passes through a heavily forested area dominated by large

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

rock outcroppings, geography typical of 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 ...

. On an average day approximately 3,200–5,200 vehicles travel along the road, varying by season.

History

Construction of Highway 17A began in 1981 in response to traffic congestion within the city of Kenora, which created a severe bottleneck for cross-national traffic. The bypass opened in stages as it was constructed from west to east. The first , from Highway 17 to Highway 596 opened in September 1983. Following this, contracts were tendered for construction of the

Winnipeg River The Winnipeg River is a Canadian river that flows roughly northwest from Lake of the Woods in the province of Ontario to Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. This river is long from the Norman Dam in Kenora to its mouth at Lake Winnipeg. Its watershed is ...

bridge. The section between Highway 596 and Highway 658 opened several years later in the autumn of 1988. The final section, linking Highway 658 with Highway 17, was opened on November16, 1990, at which point the Kenora Bypass was designated Highway17A.

Major intersections

References

External links

Highway 17A pictures and information
{{Ontario King's Highways 017A Ontario 017A Transport in Kenora Ring roads in Canada Highway 017A