Ontario Highway 68 History - The King's Highways of Ontario

King's Highway 68 was a major collector highway which connected Highway 17 near Espanola to South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island. The highway existed up until 1980, when it was redesignated as a section of Highway 6. The route of Highway 6 is now discontinuous between the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. The isolated northern section of Highway 6 which used to be Highway 68 is only linked to the southern section of Highway 6 by a seasonal ferry service.

The history of Highway 68 dates back to 1937, when the Department of Highways (DHO) assumed responsibility for the trunk road built by the Department of Northern Development between McKerrow and Little Current in 1929. The McKerrow-Little Current Trunk Road was 56 km in length when the DHO assumed it on August 11, 1937. At that time, there was no road link to Manitoulin Island. After crossing a series of islands south of Whitefish Falls, Highway 68 came to an end on Goat Island, directly across the North Channel from Little Current. A ferry service provided the only vehicle access between Little Current and the southern terminus of Highway 68. In 1945, the existing railway swing bridge linking Goat Island to Little Current was re-decked to permit highway traffic to use the structure when the bridge was not required by railway traffic. The ferry service to Little Current was discontinued once work on the railway bridge had been completed. To this day, the Little Current Swing Bridge is the only highway link to Manitoulin Island.

In the late 1930s, Highway 17 was relocated onto a new alignment between McKerrow and Webbwood. This relocation of Highway 17 in 1938 resulted in Highway 68 being extended northerly for about 2 km from the old alignment of Highway 17 between McKerrow and Webbwood to the relocated Highway 17. The extension of Highway 68 north of Espanola was completed in 1940. The completion of the deck modifications at the Little Current Swing Bridge in 1945 resulted in a short 1 km extension of Highway 68 across Goat Island. This diversion was the first section of Highway 68 to be paved. In 1947, paving work was completed on Highway 68 between the northern end of the Little Current Diversion on Goat Island and McGregor Bay. In 1949, paving work was completed on Highway 68 between McGregor Bay and Birch Island and from Espanola to the Highway 17 Junction near McKerrow. The rest of Highway 68 between McKerrow and Little Current remained gravel-surfaced until the early 1960s.

On December 7, 1955, Highway 68 was extended southerly across Manitoulin Island to the ferry dock at South Baymouth. This extension added 63 km to the length of Highway 68, bringing the road's total length up to 124 km. Most of this extension to South Baymouth was gravel-surfaced. Only the section between Little Current and Sheguiandah had been paved prior to the extension of Highway 68 in 1955. Some limited paving work took place south of Sheguiandah in 1958. Significant portions of Highway 68 were realigned and straightened between 1956 and 1962. The length of the highway changed frequently during these years due to the number of diversions resulting from the reconstruction of the highway. The length of Highway 68 actually crept up as high as 130 km, before dropping to its final length of 116 km. In 1961, most of the remaining gaps in the pavement on Highway 68 between Espanola and Whitefish Falls were paved. By 1965, the entire highway from McKerrow to Sheguiandah was paved. In 1973, the rest of Highway 68 from Sheguiandah south to the ferry dock at South Baymouth was paved. In 1980, the entire length of Highway 68 from McKerrow to South Baymouth was redesignated as Highway 6. This route renumbering completely erased Highway 68 from existence.

It could be argued that the renumbering of Highway 68 to Highway 6 in 1980 was not a wise decision on the part of the Ministry of Transportation (MTO). The ferry service linking Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula and South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island is not run by the MTO, and it only operates for six months of the year. Therefore, it does not seem logical that a provincial highway with one uniform designation should traverse such an intermittent route, particularly when the ferry service linking the two discontinuous sections of Highway 6 is not provided by MTO. In my personal opinion, the Highway 68 designation should be restored to the South Baymouth-Espanola Highway, in order to eliminate the present discontinuity of Highway 6.