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History of Secondary Highway 620:
Secondary Highway 620 was a local highway in the Counties of Peterborough and Hastings that served as an access road from Apsley to Highway 62, via Glen Alda and
Coe Hill. Highway 620 was first established in 1957, when the Coe Hill Road was acquired by the Department of Highways of Ontario (DHO) as a new provincial highway.
At the time of the highway's assumption in 1957, the highway existed in Hastings County only. A Preliminary Route Plan was prepared by the DHO in January 1957, which
showed the proposed assumption of the Coe Hill Road from the Highway 504 Junction near Glen Alda easterly to Highway 62 as a new Secondary Highway. The new highway
was approximately 12 miles in length and was formally designated as Highway 620 by an Order-in-Council, effective January 31, 1957. The highway was initially
gravel-surfaced, but a primed bituminous surface was constructed along the entire length of Highway 620 during 1957.
The route of Highway 620 remained more or less unmodified until 1963, when the northern part of Highway 504 (the Chandos Loop Highway) from Glen Alda to Apsley was renumbered as a westerly extension of Highway 620. Prior to 1963, Highway 504 formed almost a complete "Figure 8" around both Apsley and nearby Chandos Lake. Both ends of the Highway 504 Loop connected to Highway 28 in Apsley and the two legs of the Chandos Loop Highway were connected to each other by another section of Highway 504 which ran along Apsley's main street. Following the 1963 renumbering, Highway 620 began at the Highway 28 Junction at the southern entrance to Apsley and then looped around the northern side of nearby Chandos Lake. Although the date of the route number change from Highway 504 to Highway 620 is not known, it is believed that the change occurred fairly early in 1963. The DHO's Highway Mileage Logs for 1963 do not reflect the route number change, whereas the 1963 Official Ontario Road Map shows the new route numbers in place. The north leg of the Chandos Loop Highway already had a primed bituminous surface prior to the 1963 route number change. A change was made to all highway route numbers through Apsley in 1977, in an effort to improve the logic of the highway connections to Highway 28. The route of Highway 504 was extended out to Highway 28 via the south entrance road (previously known as Highway 620), which essentially reversed the 1963 route renumbering at the south entrance to Apsley. In turn, Highway 620 was extended out to Highway 28 via the north entrance road (previously known as Highway 620A). The old section of Highway 620 along Burleigh Street through Apsley became Highway 620A. This change in route numbers through Apsley was first reflected on the 1978 Official Ontario Road Map. No major changes were made to the route of Highway 620 until the 1990s, when jurisdiction over the entire highway was transferred from the province to the Counties of Peterborough and Hastings. The highway transfer took place on January 1, 1998. Although this route is still commonly referred to by motorists as "Highway 620", it is no longer a provincial highway. The highway is now officially known as Peterborough County Road 620, Wollaston Township Road 620 & Limerick Township Road 620. Unless posted otherwise, the speed limit on Highway 620 is 80 km/h (50 mph). Services are available on Highway 620 at Glen Alda, Coe Hill and on nearby Highway 620A in Apsley. |
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