Ontario Highway 64 History - The King's Highways of Ontario

King's Highway 64 is a minor collector highway which serves the District of Nipissing and the French River Region. The highway links Highway 69 south of Sudbury with Highway 11 north of North Bay. Highway 64 also shares a short concurrent routing with Highway 17 between Sturgeon Falls and Verner. The highway passes through a predominantly rural area along its 145 km route. The only major town located along the highway is Sturgeon Falls, although the highway serves many other smaller communities along its route. Highway 64 was first established in 1937, when the Department of Highways assumed the Sturgeon Falls-Marten River Northern Development Trunk Road as a new provincial highway. The highway was designated in order to provide a shorter cut-off route for traffic between Sudbury and the Ferguson Highway (Highway 11). Originally, Highway 64 was 56 km in length. In 1956, the Rutter-Verner Road was designated as a new section of Highway 64. In order to link these two discontinuous sections together, the Department of Highways signed Highway 64 concurrently with Highway 17 between Sturgeon Falls and Verner. The length of Highway 64 grew to 148 km during 1956. Highway 64 was one of the last King's Highways in Ontario to be paved from end-to-end. While most of the highway was paved in the 1950s and 1960s, one gravel section near Monetville remained until the early 1980s. In 1981, the last gravel section of Highway 64 was paved over. Apart from a few minor realignments, the route of Highway 64 has not changed significantly since the 1950s.

Highway 64 is a two-lane highway for its entire length, except for a short four-lane undivided section on Highway 17/64 on the western approach to Sturgeon Falls. Services along Highway 64 are generally not available outside of larger communities. The speed limit on Highway 64 is 80 km/h (50 mph), unless posted otherwise. The concurrent route of Highway 17/64 is typically posted at 90 km/h (55 mph). Please visit the Highway 64 Mileage Chart page for a list of mileage reference points along Highway 64.