Ontario Highway 417
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| Queensway (within Ottawa) | ||||
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| Route information | ||||
| Length: | 181.4 km[2] (112.7 mi) | |||
| Existed: | 1971[1] – present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| East end: |  A-40 towards Montreal, QC |
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 Highway 34 – Vankleek Hill Highway 138 – Casselman Highway 416 – Nepean Highway 7 – Stittsville |
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| West end: |  Highway 17 – Arnprior |
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| Highway system | ||||
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Ontario provincial highways
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→King's Highway 417, commonly referred to as Highway 417 and the Queensway through Ottawa, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. It connects Montreal (via A40) with Ottawa, and is the backbone of the transportation system in the National Capital Region. Within Ottawa, it forms part of the Queensway (along with Ottawa Road 174 east to Trim Road) west to Highway 7). Highway 417 extends from the Quebec border (near Hawkesbury) to Arnprior, where it continues westward as Highway 17.
Within Ottawa, the Queensway was built as part of a grand plan for the city between 1957 and 1966, and later reconstructed to its present form throughout the 1980s. The eastern section, from Gloucester to the Quebec border, opened in 1975 in preparation for the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Sections west of Ottawa have been under construction since the mid-1970s, with the latest section to Arnprior opening in 2005. As of 2012, the Arnprior Bypass is being twinned as far west as Campbell Drive and is scheduled for completion by the end of the year.
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[edit] Route description
Highway 417 is a 181.4 km (112.7 mi) controlled-access highway that traverses the lower Ottawa Valley and upper St. Lawrence Valley, bypassing the generally two-lane Highway 17 and providing a high-speed connection between Montreal and Ottawa via A-40. The freeway has also gradually been extended northwest from Ottawa alongside the old highway to its current terminus in Arnprior.[3]
While a significant portion of highway 417 is a rural four lane freeway divided by a grass median, the section within urban Ottawa is a busy commuter route as wide as eight lanes. The portion of the route from the Highway 7 interchange east to the Split – a large four-way interchange between Highway 417, Ottawa Regional Road 174 and the Aviation Parkway – is known formally as the Queensway, although no indication of this name appears on any signage.[4]
[edit] Quebec to Ottawa
Highway 417 begins at the border between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, east of which the four lane freeway continues as Autoroute 40. The route proceeds west along the former alignment of Highway 17, which it has served to replace. It passes through a forested and agricultural landscape en route to Ottawa, serving the communities of Hawkesbury, Vankleek Hill, Casselman, Limoges and Vars. After approximately 9 km (5.6 mi) the route curves southwest while ramps provide access from the westbound lanes to Prescott and Russell County Road 17 and from County Road 17 to the eastbound lanes of Highway 417. The route later meets the southern terminus of Highway 34 at Exit 27. Continuing southwest, the route meanders along the boundary between The Nation and North Glengarry, eventually encountering the northern terminus of Highway 138—a highway built to connect Highway 417 with Highway 401 and Cornwall[5]—east of Casselman. At this point, the freeway enters The Nation and diverges from the boundary.[3]
After crossing a Via Rail line, the route dips south of Casselman and curves to the west at Exit 66 (County Road 7). It more-or-less parallels the Via Rail line several kilometres north of the freeway, though significant deviations bypass the communities of Benoit and Limoges; the latter is served by Exit 79 (County Road 5).[3] Near Limoges is the Larosse Forest, a man-made forest planted between 1928 and 1980 over the Bourget Desert, itself created as the result of clear cutting in the 19th century.[6] At Exit 88, Highway 417 enters the city of Ottawa,[3] though the surroundings remain unchanged until Exit 110 (Walkley Road), near Ramsayville.[7]
North of Ramsayville, the route jogs abruptly to the west as it crosses Greens Creek and enters the suburbs Ottawa; an interchange with Innes Road divides the countryside to the south and east from the city to the north and west.[8] The freeway merges with the Queensway at a large multi-level interchange known locally as the Split, curving to the west and into downtown Ottawa. The interchange also provides access to Aviation Parkway from westbound Highway 417 and from the parkway to eastbound Highway 417.[7]
[edit] Queensway
The Queensway extends from Kanata in the west and passes just south of downtown through central Ottawa to Orleans in the east. It has two major interchanges, one in the east, where Highway 417 to Montreal diverges to the south-east and the eastern section of the Queensway continues as Regional Road 174; and in the west with the recently built Highway 416 Veterans Memorial Highway connecting to Highway 401. In the core section, it is eight lanes wide (four per direction), while it is usually four lanes wide along the portion outside of the former Ottawa city boundaries.
It is elevated on a berm along some central portions of its route providing views of downtown and the Gatineau Hills to the north. This central section was constructed along a former Canadian National Railway railbed. Its route bisects central Ottawa, "inside" to the north including downtown and the Parliament Buildings; to the south, residential neighbourhoods including the Glebe.
Between Eagleson/March Road and Moodie Drive in the west and between Blair Road and Place d'Orléans Drive in the east, a bus-only shoulder is used by OCTranspo's Transitway rapid-transit network.
[edit] West of Highway 416
West of the interchange with Highway 416, the freeway enters the suburb of Kanata—an independent city until the formation of the new City of Ottawa in 2001—and travels through in an east–west direction in a depressed trench. At Exit 145, the route encounters the eastern terminus of Highway 7, which travels southwest to Peterborough and the GTA and provides an alternative route to Highway 401 via Highway 416. Highway 417 makes a broad 90 degree curve to the north to meet with the midpoint of the Carp Bypass at former Highway 44 (now Ottawa Regional Road 49).
The Carp Bypass was built in the mid-1960s as a bypass of the existing Highway 17, which meandered through the communities of Carp, Kinburn and Antrim; the former highway is now Donald B. Munro Drive, and lies to the east of Highway 417. It was built as a two lane road with full control of access, avoiding existing properties and easily facilitating the upgrade to a freeway. North of Antrim, Highway 417 travels in a straight line parallel to old Highway 17 as far as Arnprior, where it curves to bypass south of that town. The divided freeway ends immediately east of the Madawaska River, west of an interchange with Renfrew County Road 29. Twinning is underway for several kilometres northeast of this point, but not yet open to traffic.
[edit] History
[edit] Queensway
Highway 417 was initially constructed as a connection between the existing Queensway and Autoroute 40 in Quebec,[9] the latter being constructed in advance of Expo 1967 and opening December 17, 1966.[10][11] However, the designation has since been applied to the Queensway west of the interchange between the two freeways.[3]
Construction of the Queensway was driven by the Greber Plan, which was produced by Jacques Gréber under the direction of Prime Minister William Mackenzie in the late 1940s. Although Gréber had been corresponding with King as early as 1936, World War II halted any plans from reaching fruition at that time. Following the war, Gréber was again contacted and his expertise requested. He arrived on October 2, 1945 and began working almost immediately.[12] The Greber Plan, as it came to be known, was printed in 1950 and presented to the House of Commons on May 22, 1951.[13] The plan called for the complete reorganization of Ottawa's road and rail network, and included amongst the numerous parkways was a east to west expressway along what was then a Canadian National Railway line.[14][15]
With the rail lines removed, construction of the new expressway got underway in 1957 when Queen Elizabeth visited Ottawa to open the first session of the 23rd Parliament. On October 15, the Queen detonated dynamite charges from the Hurdman Bridge, which now overlooks the highway as it crosses the Rideau River, and formally dedicated the new project as the Queensway. At the ceremony, premier Leslie Frost indicated that the entire project would cost C$31 million and exclaimed the importance of the link to the Trans-Canada Highway.[16][17]
The Queensway was constructed in four phases, each opening independently: phase one, from Alta Vista Drive (now Riverside Drive) east to Highway 17 (Montreal Road); phase two, from Highway 7 and Highway 15 (Richmond Road) to Carling Avenue; phase three, from Carling Avenue to O'Connor Street; and, phase four, from O'Connor Street to Alta Vista Drive, crossing the Rideau Canal and Rideau River.[18] Phase one opened to traffic on November 25, 1960, extending up to the Rideau River.[1] On the western side of Ottawa, phase two opened a year later in October, 1961. The central section presented the greatest challenge, as an embankment was built to create grade-separations. In addition, the structures over the Rideau Canal and river required several years of construction. The majority of the third phase was opened ceremoniously May 15, 1964,[19] completing the Carling Avenue interchange and extending the freeway as far as Bronson Avenue.[20] Several months later, on September 17 the short but complicated section east to O'Connor Street was opened.[19] This left only phase four, the central section of the Queensway, which was opened in three segments. On November 26, 1965, the structures over the Rideau Canal were opened to traffic, extending the westbound lanes to Concord Street, west of the Nicholas Street interchange.[21] The interchange opened on January 1, 1966, allowing travel in both directions over the canal.[22] The final segment, linking the two section of the Queensway, was placed into service on October 28, 1966.[23] Following this, the Highway 17 designation was applied along the Queensway and the old routing renumbered as Highway 17B.[24]
[edit] New freeway
East of Ottawa, planning was underway on a new freeway, Highway 417, that would connect the Queensway to A-40 to provide a high-speed route to Montreal. Highway 17, closely following the shore of the Ottawa River as it meanders towards Pointe-Fortune, was dangerous, narrow, and accident prone, earning it the nickname of "the killer strip".[25] The awarding of the 1976 Summer Olympics to Montreal on May 12, 1970[26] resulted in a sped-up construction schedule due to the anticipated high volume of traffic that would be travelling the corridor between Ottawa and Montreal during the games. Contracts to construct the new route were opened to bidding on November 15, 1968; construction began in May 1969 starting at Base Line Road (now Ramsayville Road) and proceeding easterly.[27][28]
The new freeway was built under a continuous construction program over the following 6 years, opening progressively as each segment of roadway was completed. The first 16 km (9.9 mi) segment, from Ramsayville Road to Rockdale Road, near Vars, opened on September 21, 1972. By the end of that month, the easternmost 9 km (5.6 mi) of Highway 17 had been converted into a divided freeway,[29] and construction was progressing on the remainder of the route.[30] On October 1, 1973, a 14 km (8.7 mi) section of freeway opened between Vars and Limoges.[31] On July 15, 1974, Minister of Transportation and Communications John Rhodes ceremoniously opened the next section of Highway 417, between Limoges Road and Highland Road.[32] The section between Highland Road and Highway 17 opened on November 8, 1974, connecting with the existing section towards the Quebec border.[33] The final segment of the new route, connecting the section east of Ramsayville with the Queensway, was opened to traffic on December 2, 1975. The cost of the entire eastern segment was $77 million ($297 million in 2012 dollars)[34].[35]
[edit] Western extension
The Queensway was renumbered as Highway 417 at some point between 1978 and 1980.[36][37]
- Extended to March Road (Carp/Antrim Bypass) by 1982
- Twinning from Highway 7 to March Road began in 1991[38]
- Twinning from March Road to Panmure Road awarded to Bot Construction on December 9, 1998.[39]
- Extension to Arnprior was announced on February 16, 2000.[40]
- Contract tendered in early 2002.[41]
- Completed to Arnprior September 24, 2004.[42]
[edit] Future
The MTO plans to further extend the 417 westerly through the Ottawa Valley by twinning and realigning the existing Highway 17 to a four-lane freeway past Arnprior, where Highway 417 currently ends. No immediate construction timelines have been announced, but route planning by MTO has been completed to Pembroke. In August 2006, construction began on a connection at Exit 145 with an announced four-lane expansion of Highway 7 to Carleton Place from the west side of Ottawa.
The 417 currently has 42 interchanges from the Quebec border to Arnprior, with more planned as the highway is extended westward. Unlike other highways in Ontario and most of North America, exits are numbered from east to west. Planning and construction efforts to upgrade Highway 17 through metropolitan Sudbury and North Bay have prompted speculation that Highway 417 will continue to be extended west through Northern Ontario.
[edit] Exit list
The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 417, as noted by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.[2] Unlike other highways in Ontario, Highway 417 is measured from east to west,[2] and as such this table is presented in that order.
To 
[edit] References
- ^ a b http://www.gloucesterhistory.com/history.html
- ^ a b c Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (2008). "Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) counts". Government of Ontario. http://www.raqsb.mto.gov.on.ca/techpubs/TrafficVolumes.nsf/tvweb?OpenForm&Seq=5. Retrieved December 21, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f Peter Heiler (2010). Ontario Back Road Atlas (Map). Cartography by MapArt. pp. 65–69, section Q57–S73. ISBN 978-1-55198-226-7.
- ^ http://books.google.ca/books?id=x04o89kXIf4C&lpg=PA139&dq=%22Highway%20417%22%20-wikipedia%20-LLC&pg=PA139#v=onepage&q=%22Highway%20417%22%20-wikipedia%20-LLC&f=false
- ^ Proceedings of the convention (Report). Canadian Good Roads Association. 1969. p. 65.
- ^ http://www.ofnc.ca/conservation/larose/laroseforest.php
- ^ a b Google, Inc. Google Maps – Highway 417 length and route (Map). Cartography by Google, Inc. http://g.co/maps/e29at. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
- ^ http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/places-to-visit/greenbelt/greens-creek
- ^ "Two Big Road Jobs". The Ottawa Citizen 128 (18): p. 10. July 21, 1970. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=groyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5OwFAAAAIBAJ&dq=417%20ottawa&pg=3156%2C365086. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
- ^ "Répertoire des autoroutes du Québec" (in French). Transports Québec. http://www1.mtq.gouv.qc.ca/fr/repertoire_autoroute/autoroute.asp. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
- ^ Hayes, Bob (December 17, 1966). "Opening Today For 92 Miles Of Autoroute". The Montreal Gazette. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=MJUtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4p8FAAAAIBAJ&dq=autoroute&pg=6969%2C3603619.
- ^ https://qshare.queensu.ca/Users01/gordond/planningcanadascapital/greber1950/intorduction.htm
- ^ https://qshare.queensu.ca/Users01/gordond/planningcanadascapital/greber1950/Greber_review.htm
- ^ https://qshare.queensu.ca/Users01/gordond/planningcanadascapital/greber1950/plate12.htm
- ^ https://qshare.queensu.ca/Users01/gordond/planningcanadascapital/greber1950/plates_doc/300/plate_26.jpg
- ^ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=n-owAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rN8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=6383%2C3574793
- ^ http://www.carlingtoncommunity.org/?p=1492
- ^ http://books.google.ca/books?ei=xO7vTqTCFYHh0QGYrpzxCQ&id=qpokAQAAIAAJ&dq=Queensway+Ottawa&q=%22Stage+I%22+%2B%22II%22+%2B%22III%22+%2B%22IV%22#search_anchor
- ^ a b Annual Report (Report). Department of Highways. March 31, 1965. p. 302.
- ^ A.T.C. McNab (1964). Proceedings of the... Convention. Canadian Good Roads Association. p. 104.
- ^ Annual Report (Report). Department of Highways. March 31, 1966. p. 324.
- ^ AADT Traffic Volumes 1955–1969 And Traffic Collision Data 1967–1969. Department of Highways. 1970. p. 54.
- ^ Annual Report (Report). Department of Highways. March 31, 1967. p. 315.
- ^ Ontario Department of Highways (1968). Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by Photogrammetry Division. Ottawa inset.
- ^ "Queen's Park to Pay $550,000 More for Fill on Ottawa Highway". The Globe and Mail (Toronto) 130 (38,741). February 7, 1974.
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://www.archive.org/stream/v1hansard1969ontauoft/v1hansard1969ontauoft_djvu.txt
- ^ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=groyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5OwFAAAAIBAJ&dq=highway-417&pg=3156%2C365086
- ^ Information Services (September 19, 1972) (Press release). Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
- ^ Department of Transportation and Communications (1972). Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by Photogrammetry Office. Section E30–F33.
- ^ Information Services (September 28, 1973). "Another Section of Highway 417 Freeway between Ottawa and the Quebec Boundary will be Opened to Traffic on Monday, October 1" (Press release). Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
- ^ Public and Safety Information Branch (July 3, 1974). "Highway 417 Opening" (Press release). Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
- ^ Public and Safety Information Branch (November 4, 1974) (Press release). Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
- ^ Canadian inflation numbers based on Statistics Canada. "Consumer Price Index, historical summary". CANSIM, table (for fee) 326-0021 and Catalogue nos. 62-001-X, 62-010-X and 62-557-X. Last modified: 2011-01-25. Retrieved January 16, 2012
- ^ Construction Program. Ministry of Transportation and Communications. 1976–1977. p. XII.
- ^ Ministry of Transportation and Communications (1978–1979). Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by Cartography Section. Section E30–F33.
- ^ Ministry of Transportation and Communications (1980–1981). Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by Cartography Section. Section E30–F33.
- ^ Transportation Capital Branch (1991–1992). Provincial Highways Construction Projects. Ministry of Transportation and Communications. p. 17. ISBN 0714-1149.
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/19991109072754/http://www.newswire.ca/government/ontario/english/releases/December1998/09/c3465.html
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20021002203106/http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/news/regional/2002/012102_1b.htm
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20030814115858/http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/news/regional/2002/012102_1.htm
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20041118064047/http://ogov.newswire.ca/ontario/GONE/2004/09/24/c3345.html?lmatch=&lang=_e.html
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ontario Highway 417 |
- OpenStreetMap: Highway 417 route
- MTO Compass Highway 417 Ottawa cameras
- Video of Highway 417 westbound in Ottawa
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