Ontario Highway 417

See also: Queensway (Ottawa)

Highway 417
Queensway
Route information
Length:	181.4 km[1] (112.7 mi)
Existed:	1971[citation needed] – present
Major junctions
East end:	A-40 towards Montreal, QC
	Highway 34 – Vankleek Hill  Highway 138 – Casselman  Highway 416 – Nepean  Highway 7 – Stittsville
West end:	Highway 17 – Arnprior
Highway system
Ontario provincial highways 400-series • Former ← Highway 416 Highway 420 →

King's Highway 417, also known as Highway 417 and the Queensway through Ottawa is a 400-series highways in the Canadian province of Ontario which connects Montreal (via A40) with Ottawa. It is the backbone of the transportation system in the Ottawa region, where it is known as the Queensway (from the Ottawa Road 174 interchange to the Highway 7). It extends from the Quebec border (near Hawkesbury) to Arnprior, where it continues westward as Highway 17. The eastern section from the Quebec border to the east side of Ottawa opened in the 1970s. Sections west of Ottawa have been under construction since the mid-1990s, in three phases, with the latest section to Arnprior opening in 2005.

Route description

Highway 417 in Ottawa near the Highway 416 interchange, showing an HOV lane in the eastbound carriageway

Highway 417 facing east at the Split

Map of Highway 417 in Ottawa (The Queensway)

Highway 417 is often quite congested through Ottawa, but currently there is no expansion planned through the city centre. An Ottawa bypass beltway plan was briefly discussed in 2001-2003, but is now on the political backburner. In 2007, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) began planning an extensive upgrade of the infrastructure of the Queensway along Highway 417 from Highway 416 eastward to Anderson Road.^[2]

Autoroute 40 becomes Highway 417 at the Ontario border, part of the Trans-Canada Highway route.

• Highest Volume: 168,600 AADT from Rochester Street (Exit 122) to Parkdale Avenue (Exit 121B)
• Lowest Volume: 12,100 AADT from Barb Road (Exit 17) to Highway 17 (Exit 9)

History

The first sections of the Queensway that were eventually made part of the 417 alignment were constructed in the early 1960s. The central zone of Queensway was gradually extended both eastward and westward through Ottawa in the late 1960s and 1970s. As the Queensway/417 was extended, a section of Highway 17 through the city "disappeared", although the two sections of Highway 17 were directly linked by Highway 417. This comprises most of the Queensway. In the eastern part of Ottawa, at an interchange known as "the split", Highway 417 was built on a new alignment that bypassed the existing Highway 17. Highway 17 resumed east of "the split", with its short freeway section constituting the rest of the Queensway route, before 1998 provincial downloading put it into doubt. Near the Quebec border, Highway 17 again met up with and terminated with Highway 417, shortly before 417 turns into Autoroute 40. After 1998, when Highway 17 became Ottawa Regional Road 174, Highway 417 assumed the Trans-Canada Highway designation all the way to its eastern terminus.

For many years, Highway 417 was one of the few isolated 400-series highways without direct freeway access to the "backbone" of the network, Highway 401, until the completion of Highway 416 in 1999.

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. After much planning on other segments of Highway 17 in Sudbury, and North Bay it has raised speculation on expansion.

Exit list

Division	Location	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Prescott and Russell	East Hawkesbury	5	CR 4 / CR 14 (Prescott and Russell Road) – Chute-à-Blondeau, Saint Eugene
		9	CR 17 – Hawkesbury, Rockland	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		17	CR 10 (Barb Road) – Vankleek Hill, Saint Eugene
Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry	North Glengarry	27	Highway 34 / CR 34 – Alexandria, Vankleek Hill, Hawkesbury, Mirabel Airport
		35	CR 23 / CR 31 (McCrimmon Road) – Alexandria, Saint Bernardin
		51	Highland Road (CR 9, CR 20) - Saint Isidore, Maxville
	The Nation, North Stormont	58	Highway 138 (CR 8) – Monkland, Cornwall
	The Nation	66	CR 7 (Saint Albert Road) – Casselman, Crysler, Saint Albert
	The Nation, Russell	79	CR 5 (Limoges Road) – Limoges, Embrun, Crysler
Ottawa		88	RR 33 (Rockdale Road) – Vars, Russell, Embrun
		96	RR 41 (Boundary Road) – Metcalfe, Marionville, Russell, Carlsbad Springs
		104	RR 27 (Anderson Road)
		110	Walkley Road (RR 43)
		112	Innes Road (RR 30)
		113A	RR 174 east – Orléans, Rockland
		113B	Aviation Parkway	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		115	St. Laurent Boulevard
		117	Riverside Drive, Vanier Parkway
		118	To A-5 / Nicholas Street, Mann Avenue, Lees Avenue – Gatineau	To Macdonald-Cartier Bridge
		119	Metcalfe Street, Catherine Street
		120	Kent Street	Eastbound exit
		121A	RR 31 (Bronson Avenue) – Ottawa Airport	No eastbound entrance; former Hwy 31
		121B	Rochester Street	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		122	Parkdale Avenue - Ottawa Hospital
		123	Island Park Drive	Westbound exit
		124	Carling Avenue, Kirkwood Avenue
		126	Maitland Avenue - Nepean
		127	Woodroffe Avenue - Nepean	Signed as exits 127A (north) and 127B (south) westbound
		129	Pinecrest Road, Greenbank Road - Nepean
		130	Bayshore Drive, Richmond Road (RR 36), Acres Road
		131	Highway 416 south to Highway 401 – Ottawa Airport
		134	RR 59 (Moodie Drive)
		138	RR 49 (March Road, Eagleson Road) – Kanata
		139	Castlefrank Road, Kanata Avenue	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		140	Terry Fox Drive (RR 61)
		142	RR 88 (Palladium Drive)
		144	RR 5 (Carp Road) – Stittsville, Carp
		145	Highway 7 west / TCH – Toronto, Carleton Place
		155	RR 49 (March Road) – Almonte, Carp
		163	Panmure Road
		169	RR 20 (Kinburn Side Road) – Pakenham, Kinburn
		180	RR 29 – Arnprior, Carleton Place

References

1. ^ Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (2004). "Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) counts". Government of Ontario. http://www.raqsb.mto.gov.on.ca/techpubs/TrafficVolumes.nsf/tvweb?OpenForm&Seq=5. Retrieved February 26, 2010. 
2. ^ [1]

External links

• OpenStreetMap: Highway 417 route
• MTO Compass Highway 417 Ottawa cameras