Highways in Ontario

The Ontario provincial highway network consists of all public highways maintained by the Canadian province of Ontario. The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) maintains over 16,600 kilometres (10,300 mi) of roadways organized into various classifications which crisscross the province and provide access to major population centres.

Like most provinces, Ontario established a highway network in early 1920 as a result of the Canada Highways Act. Initially, the responsibility for these roads fell under the Department of Public Highways. In 1930, the department was renamed as the Department of Highways (DHO). Roadways in sparsely populated northern Ontario fell under the Department of Northern Development (DND) until it was merged into the DHO in 1937. That same year, the first divided highway and interchange in Canada – The Middle Road – was opened, inspired by German autobahns. Following World War II, construction of highways was accelerated; the first fully controlled-access highway was opened between Toronto and Barrie in 1952, the 825 km (513 mi) Highway 401 was navigable in 1964, and a network of secondary and collector highways was constructed through the rugged Canadian Shield throughout the 1950s. In 1960, The Gap opened along the north shore of Lake Superior and completed the Trans-Canada Highway in the province. The decade that followed saw the opening or planning of almost every freeway in Southern Ontario completed to date. In recent years, work has been focused on twinning existing routes into divided highways rather than establishing new corridors.

Ontario

Ontario (ⁱ/ɒnˈtɛərioʊ/) is one of the ten provinces of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province by a large margin, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all Canadians, and is the second largest province in total area. Ontario is fourth largest in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are included. It is home to the nation's capital city, Ottawa, and the nation's most populous city, Toronto.

Ontario is bordered by the province of Manitoba to the west, Hudson Bay and James Bay to the north, and Quebec to the east, and to the south by the US states of (from west to east) Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. All of Ontario's 2,700 km (1,678 mi) border with the United States follows inland waterways: from the west at Lake of the Woods, eastward along the major rivers and lakes of the Great Lakes/Saint Lawrence River drainage system. These are the Rainy River, the Pigeon River, Lake Superior, the St. Marys River, Lake Huron, the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario and along the St. Lawrence River from Kingston, Ontario, to the Quebec boundary just east of Cornwall, Ontario.

List of highways numbered 417

The following highways are numbered 417:

Canada

Highway 417 (Ontario)

Japan

Japan National Route 417

United States

Florida State Road 417

Georgia State Route 417 (unsigned designation for Interstate 575)

Maryland Route 417 (former)

New York State Route 417

Pennsylvania Route 417

South Carolina Highway 417