Ontario Highway 101

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Highway 101 shield

Highway 101
Route information
Maintained by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario
Length: 473.3 km[1] (294.1 mi)
History: Established June 6, 1940[2]
(as Hoyle–Shillington Highway)
Numbered 1944
Completed January 1, 1967[3]
Major junctions
West end:  Highway 17 near Wawa
   Highway 129 near Chapleau
 Highway 144 near Timmins
 Highway 655 near Timmins
 Highway 11 in Matheson
East end: Route 388 at Ontario–Quebec border
Highway system
Current highways
←  Highway 94   Highway 102  →
Former highways
←  Highway 100    

King's Highway 101, commonly referred to as Highway 101, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. It connects Highway 17 west of Wawa with Highway 11 in Matheson before continuing east to the Ontario–Quebec border where it becomes Route 388. The highway forms one of the only connections between the two routes of the Trans-Canada Highway between Nipigon and Temagami, and crosses some of the most remote regions of Northern Ontario.

Route description[edit]

Highway 101 connects Highway 17 at Wawa with the Quebec border near Rouyn-Noranda. It passes through Chapleau, Foleyet, Timmins, South Porcupine, Porcupine and Matheson along its 473.3 km (294.1 mi) course. With the exception of an undivided urban four-lane section through Timmins, from Government Road in Mountjoy to Porcupine, the entire highway is two lanes wide.

Just east of The Shoals Provincial Park, the highway crosses the Laurentian Divide, the boundary between the Great Lakes and Arctic Ocean watersheds. North of this point, all streams and rivers flow north into Hudson Bay, while south of it all streams and rivers flow south to the Great Lakes. A sign and a small picnic area mark the transition.

Within Timmins, the highway also has the street names Riverside Drive in the Mountjoy area, Algonquin Boulevard downtown, Schumacher Drive in Schumacher, Herald Avenue in South Porcupine and King Street in Porcupine. A new alignment is currently proposed but not yet under construction to bypass the urban core of Timmins.

At the Ontario-Quebec border, the roadway continues eastward as Quebec Route 388 into the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region.

History[edit]

Construction of Highway 101 between Chapleau and Foleyet

Highway 67 was the first provincial highway to provide access to Timmins from the Ferguson Highway (Highway 11). When it was designated in mid-1937,[4] shortly after the merging of the Department of Northern Development into the Department of Highways (DHO), several other roads had been "built" in the area, but hardly improved beyond the clearing of trees. The DHO set forth to construct several new highways in the north.[5][6] A concession road between Hoyle and Matheson already existed at this point, and over the next several years it was reconstructed to provincial standards. On June 26, 1940, the route was designated as a provincial highway. However, it was not numbered on official maps.[2][7]

During World War II, plans arose to connect Timmins with the Quebec border, and the route via Matheson was chosen as the most direct path. By the end of the war, the road between Hoyle and Matheson had been numbered as Highway 101 and extended eastward to Abitibi, ending at Garrison Creek.[8] The route remained this way for several years.

The Trans-Canada Highway Act was passed in 1950 and provided the impetus to construct Highway 17 around Lake Superior, which was carried out over the course of the decade.[9] This resulted in the planning of a new road to connect Highway 11 with Highway 17; it was decided that Highway 101 would be extended west as the new connector highway. In order to accommodate this future extension, the section of Highway 67 between Timmins and Hoyle was renumbered as Highway 101 in mid-1955.[10][11] On September 1, 1955, the route was extended west of Timmins to Warren Lake.[2] West of Warren Lake, Highway 616 and Highway 624 continued to the CNR stop in Foleyet; these would soon become part of Highway 101.[12] Highway 101 was opened to the Quebec border in December 1958 with the completion of the final 11.6 km (7.2 mi) gap. In addition, work began on December 18 to clear the route of the Foleyet to Chapleau Resource Road.[2] On April 1, 1960, Highway 616 and Highway 624 were renumbered as part of Highway 101,[13] making the highway 247.2 km (153.6 mi) long; it now connected Foleyet to the Quebec border.[14]

Typical Highway 101 between Wawa and Chapleau; the route is extremely remote and few services exist outside of communities.

In 1963, several new sections of Highway 101 were opened. On May 16, the majority of the new Chapleau–Foleyet road was designated as Highway 101, with the exception of a 13.4 km (8.3 mi) bypass of Foleyet and the old route of Highway 624 that opened on December 19.[15] In addition, a new 40.2 km (25.0 mi) road west of Chapleau was assumed in December, terminating at the Grazing River near the present entrance to The Shoals Provincial Park.[3]

Work also progressed from the west, near Wawa. Prior to the opening of Highway 17 and Highway 101, a road connected the port at Michipicoten with Wawa. Highway 101 follows a portion of this route, but south of the Highway 17 junction the old road is now known as Pinewood Drive. In October 1965, a 31.5 km (19.6 mi) road was designated as Highway 101, travelling as far east as the Michipicoten River,[3] The final section, a gap between the Michipicoten River bridge and the Grazing River, opened to traffic on January 1, 1967, completing the link between Wawa and Timmins.[3]

Major intersections[edit]

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 101, as noted by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.[1] 

Division Location km[1] mi Destinations Notes
Algoma Wawa 0.0 0.0  Highway 17 – Sault Ste. Marie, Marathon
2.0 1.2 Chris Simon Drive Beginning of Wawa Connecting Link agreement
3.3 2.1 Gladstone Avenue End of Wawa Connecting Link agreement
Unorganized Algoma 21.3 13.2  Highway 547 – Hawk Junction
64.6 40.1 Highway 651 north – Missanabie
Sudbury Unorganized Sudbury 127.8 79.4  Highway 129 south – Thessalon
135.4 84.1  Highway 129 north – Chapleau
229.3 142.5 Highway 7072 (Young Street) – Foleyet
Timmins 308.0 191.4  Highway 144 south – Sudbury
323.0 200.7 Kamiskotia Road Formerly Highway 576
323.2 200.8 Beginning of Timmins Connecting Link agreement
344.5 214.1 Gervais Street North End of Timmins Connecting Link agreement
354.5 220.3 Frederick House Lake Road Formerly Highway 610
Cochrane Black River-Matheson 382.7 237.8  Highway 577 north
392.4 243.8  Highway 11 north
398.8 247.8  Highway 11 south Beginning of Matheson Connecting Link agreement
399.5 248.2 Abitibi River crossing End of Matheson Connecting Link agreement
414.3 257.4  Highway 572 south – Holtyre, Ramore
450.6 280.0 Highway 672 south – Kirkland Lake
473.3 294.1
Ontario Quebec border
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Images[edit]

  • Highway 101 at Wawa Lake.

  • Marker sign for the Divide along Highway 101.

  • Highway 101 is known as Algonquin Boulevard in Downtown Timmins

  • Highway 101 in Matheson.

References[edit]

Route map: Bing

KML file (edit)
  1. ^ a b c Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (2008). "Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) counts". Government of Ontario. Retrieved December 7, 2011. 
  2. ^ a b c d Annual Report (Report). Department of Highways. March 31, 1941. p. 14, 92. 
  3. ^ a b c d A.A.D.T. Traffic Volumes 1955–1969 And Traffic Collision Data 1967–1969. Ontario Department of Highways. 1970. p. 107. 
  4. ^ "Appendix 3 - Schedule of Assumptions and Reversions". Annual Report (Report). Department of Highways. March 31, 1938. p. 80. 
  5. ^ Shragge, John; Bagnato, Sharon (1984). From Footpaths to Freeways. Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Historical Committee. p. 71. ISBN 0-7743-9388-2. 
  6. ^ Smith, R. M (March 31, 1938). "Ontario and its Highways". Annual Report (Report). Department of Highways. p. 8. 
  7. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by C.P. Robins. Ontario Department of Highways. 1942. Northern portion inset. 
  8. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by C.P. Robins. Ontario Department of Highways. 1947. Northern portion inset. § H30–33. 
  9. ^ Shragge, John; Bagnato, Sharon (1984). From Footpaths to Freeways. Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Historical Committee. pp. 85–87. ISBN 0-7743-9388-2. 
  10. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by C.P. Robins. Ontario Department of Highways. 1955. Northern portion inset. § J28–30. 
  11. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by C.P. Robins. Ontario Department of Highways. 1956. Northern portion inset. § J28–30. 
  12. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by C.P. Robins. Ontario Department of Highways. 1959. Northern portion inset. § H28–J30. 
  13. ^ Information Section (November 9, 1959). (Press release). Department of Highways.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by C.P. Robins. Ontario Department of Highways. 1960. Northern portion inset. § H28–J33. 
  15. ^ "Appendix 3A - Schedule of Designations and Re-Designations of Sections". Annual Report (Report). Department of Highways. March 31, 1964. p. 269. 
Current highways
Former highways
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