Secondary Highway 501, commonly referred to as Highway 501, was a
provincially maintained secondary 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 C ...
. The highway was long, connecting
Highway 103 north of
Port Severn with
Honey Harbour.
Highway 501 was first assumed by the Department of Highways (DHO), predecessor to the
Ministry of Transportation of Ontario
The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is the provincial ministry of the Government of Ontario that is responsible for transport infrastructure and related law in Ontario. The ministry traces its roots back over a century to the 1890s, when the ...
, in 1956, along with most secondary highways in Ontario. In the early 1970s, the route was transferred to the newly established
District Municipality of Muskoka and has since been known as Muskoka Road 5, or Honey Harbour Road. Today Muskoka Road 5 is accessed from
Highway 400 at exit 156.
Route description
The route of Highway 501 was, and remains, a short access road to summer cottages and islands along the rugged
Georgian Bay
Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To ...
shoreline, and the small port of Honey Harbour. The area, known for its scenic granite
outcrop
An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth.
Features
Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...
pings, overlays the southern fringe of the
Canadian Shield. Beginning at Port Severn, west of the modern Highway 400 interchange (exit 156) at what is now Violet Drive, the route travelled west for to a crossroads, then proceeded north.
This crossroad is now bypassed by a gradual curve.
Continuing north, the route generally followed the current alignment of Muskoka Road 5, except between Bass Bay Road and Sunset Lane, where a former alignment lies in the forest east of the current road. The route meandered north and westward through the forest before entering Honey Harbour.
The designation ended at the marina entrance in town.
History
The route of Highway 501 was first assumed by the DHO in early 1956, along with several dozen other secondary highways. It was likely maintained as a development road prior to that. It connected Port Severn with Honey Harbour along a route.
The route remained unchanged as Highway 103 was built into Muskoka,
a corridor now occupied by Highway 400. The creation of the District Municipality of Muskoka on January 1, 1971,
resulted in the province transferring responsibility for secondary highways to the district. By 1973, Highway 501 had been redesignated as Muskoka Road 5,
as it remains today.
Major intersections
References
{{Ontario Secondary Highways
501
501