Ontario Highway 626 (#2) History - The King's Highways of Ontario

The Secondary Highway 626 designation was utilized again in the late 1970s for the new Marathon Entrance Highway in the District of Thunder Bay. A Preliminary Assumption Plan was prepared by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MTC) in 1978, which showed the proposed acquisition of Peninsula Road from Highway 17 to Marathon as a new provincial highway. The plan was registered on August 17, 1978 and Peninsula Road was designated as Highway 626 by an Order-in-Council, effective September 27, 1978. The Marathon Entrance Highway was approximately 4 km in length and was already paved at the time of assumption. Highway 626 remained in the provincial highway system until the late 1990s, when jurisdiction over the highway was transferred from the province to the Town of Marathon. The highway transfer took place on March 31, 1997. Today, the former highway is simply known as Peninsula Road. Unless posted otherwise, the speed limit on Highway 626 is 80 km/h (50 mph). Services are located along Highway 626 in Marathon and at the Highway 17 Junction. A different, unrelated Highway 626 existed in the Matheson and Iroquois Falls area from 1961 until 1974.