History of Secondary Highway 558:
Secondary Highway 558 is a local highway in the District of Timiskaming that provides access from Highway 11 to Mowat Landing, located on the Montreal River west of
Haileybury. Highway 558 was first designated by an Order-in-Council dated May 9, 1956. The route was first depicted on a Preliminary Route Plan prepared by the
Department of Highways of Ontario (DHO) in June 1956. The new highway was originally 16.6 miles (26.7 km) in length. As originally assumed in 1956, the DHO owned
Highway 558 in its entirety with the exception of the portions of the route passing through the Town of Haileybury. This non-assumed section of the route from the
Highway 11 Junction to the town's west limits remained under municipal jurisdiction. The non-assumed section of Highway 558 through Haileybury was designated as a
Municipal Connecting Link by an Order-in-Council, effective November 19, 1959. Initially, the route of Highway 558 followed Browning Street into Haileybury, where
the highway came to an end at Highway 11 (Lakeshore Road). A new diversion was established for Highway 558 through Haileybury in the mid-1960s. As part of this work,
a new railway subway was constructed below the Ontario Northland Railway (ONR) on Main Street. The proposed new route of Highway 558 via Main Street was designated as
a Municipal Connecting Link by an Order-in-Council, effective May 16, 1963. Upon completion of the diversion in the late summer of 1965, the signed route of
Highway 558 was permanently shifted from Browning Street onto the newly-completed Main Street Extension. Following the completion of the diversion, Highway 558 joined
Highway 11B (Formerly Highway 11) in Downtown Haileybury at the intersection of Rorke Avenue and Main Street.
Highway 558 was gravel-surfaced at the time of designation in 1956. When the Highway 11 Bypass was completed in 1963, a portion of Highway 558 from the new Tri-Town
Bypass to Haileybury was paved. Sections of Highway 558 lying west of the Highway 11 Bypass were paved in the early 1990s, but some gravel-surfaced sections remain
along Highway 558 even today. Apart from some minor revisions to the route of Highway 558 in a few locations, the highway did not change significantly until the 1990s.
The 6 km section of Highway 558 from a point just west of the ONR Subway to the Highway 11 Bypass was transferred from the province to the Town of Haileybury,
effective March 31, 1997. Since Highway 11B through Haileybury was also decommissioned in 1997, signs marking the route of Highway 558 into Downtown Haileybury from
the Highway 11 Bypass were removed. Another section of Highway 558 was transferred to the Town of Haileybury in 1998. A 3.2 km section of Highway 558 from the
Highway 11 Bypass to the western limits of Haileybury was transferred from the province to the Town of Haileybury, effective January 1, 1998. Although this 3.2 km
section of Highway 558 lying west of the Highway 11 Bypass is not maintained by the province, the route is still signed as Highway 558 for continuity. The route of
Highway 558 is approximately 20 km in length today, including the 3.2 km non-assumed section of the highway lying within the former limits of the Town of Haileybury
(now part of the City of Temiskaming Shores). Unless posted otherwise, the speed limit on Highway 558 is 80 km/h (50 mph). There are no services available on this
highway.
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