Secondary Highway 533, commonly referred to as Highway 533, is a provincially maintained secondary highway 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 North ...

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 the town of Mattawa, at Highway 17, and travels north to Highway 63. Between these two junctions is a large barren expanse of wilderness with almost no habitation. Mattawa is the only community along the route. Highway 533 was assumed in 1956, along with many of the secondary highways in the province. It was later extended to Highway 63 in 1958, establishing the route as it remains today. A

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

with Highway 17 was opened in late 2011, the first on a provincial highway in Ontario.

Route description

At Mattawa, Highway 533 meets Highway 17 at a roundabout in the town's downtown area, adjacent to the shore of the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (french: Rivière des Outaouais, Algonquin: ''Kichi-Sìbì/Kitchissippi'') is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern ...

. The route proceeds northwest as Main Street through the town before crossing the

Mattawa River The Mattawa River is a river in central Ontario, Canada. It flows east from Trout Lake east of North Bay and enters the Ottawa River at the town of Mattawa. Counting from the head of Trout Lake, it is 76 km in length. The river's name come ...

, north of which it is known as First Street. It continues out of the town alongside the Ottawa River for several kilometres before venturing eastward inland. The route continues through the isolated terrain 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 ...

, with the

Boreal Forest Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, ...

surrounding the highway on both sides and very few signs of human habitation outside of Mattawa. It zig-zags north and northeast, avoiding numerous lakes 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 ...

that dot the region, providing access to Alexander Lake Forest Provincial Park around its midpoint. Highway 533 ends at an isolated junction with Highway 63 approximately southwest of

Témiscaming Témiscaming is a city located at the south end of Lac Témiscamingue on the upper Ottawa River in the Témiscamingue Regional County Municipality of western Quebec, Canada. Also nearby is Lake Kipawa. It is the administrative headquarters o ...

History

The current route of Highway 533 was first assumed by the Department of Highways in early 1956, along with several dozen other secondary highways. It was likely maintained as a development road prior to that. When it was assumed, the route was approximately in length, terminating at its present intersection with Forest Acres Road. It was paved as far north as the Antoine Creek crossing. By 1958 the route was extended north to Highway 63. In 1962, work began on paving the gravel sections of the highway. Construction was completed by 1973, and the route has remained unchanged since then. In September 2010, 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 pro ...

announced upgrades to the intersection with Highway 17, including the construction of the first

on a provincial highway. Construction began later that month and was completed in late November 2011.

Major intersections

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 533. The entirety of the route is located within

Nipissing District Nipissing District is a district in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1858. The district seat is North Bay. In 2016, the population was 83,150. The land area is ; the population density was , making it o ...

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Roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

, - , rowspan="1", Mattawan Township , 4.7 , , Access to Holden Generating Station , - , rowspan="1", Unorganized Nipissing District , 53.2 , ,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

References

{{Ontario Secondary Highways

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Roads in Nipissing District