| 
| |
|
|
History of Secondary Highway 516 (#1):
The first Secondary Highway 516 was a local highway serving as an access road from Highway 11 near Huntsville to Windermere, located on Lake Rosseau. Highway 516
began at Highway 11 immediately east of Utterson and headed west to join with Highway 532 near Raymond. At the Highway 532 Junction, Highway 516 turned south
concurrently with Highway 532 for a short distance towards Bracebridge, before resuming its route west along the south shore of Three Mile Lake via Ufford.
Highway 516 came to an end at the small community of Windermere, located on the eastern shores of Lake Rosseau. The entire 26 km route from Highway 11 to Windermere was officially
designated as Highway 516 on May 9, 1956. Highway 516 was already paved at the time the route was designated in 1956. In 1960, Highway 516 was extended easterly for
2 km from Highway 11 to Port Sydney, a small community situated on the western shores of Mary Lake. For the next 12 years, the length of Highway 516 stood at 28 km.
Up until 1971, there was no intermediate road agency between the province's Department of Highways (now MTO) and the local townships within Muskoka District. The creation of the District Municipality of Muskoka on January 1, 1971, changed the way road services were administered within the District. As a result, many of Ontario's Secondary Highways lying within the District were transferred to this newly-former tier of municipal government, particularly those which served as local access highways. For the most part, Highway 516 served only a local purpose. With the exception of the short section of Highway 516 lying between the Highway 11 Junction near Utterson and the Highway 532 Junction near Raymond, the route of Highway 516 was transferred to the new District Municipality of Muskoka, effective April 30, 1972. The section of Former Highway 516 lying east of Highway 11 is now known as Muskoka Road 10 (Port Sydney Road), while the balance of the highway lying southwest of the highway junction near Raymond became Muskoka Road 35 (Raymond Road) and Muskoka Road 4 (Windermere Road). The provincially-controlled link of Highway 516 that remained through Utterson was immediately renumbered as Highway 532 in 1972, since the route of Highway 532 from the Highway 516 Junction near Raymond southerly through Bracebridge was also decommissioned on April 30, 1972. Two years later, the entire route of Secondary Highway 532 was re-designated as King's Highway 141. Another, unrelated Highway 516 was established in Northwestern Ontario north of Sioux Lookout in 1983. |
|---|
