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History of Tertiary Highway 807 (#1):
Tertiary Highway 807 was a new route constructed in the District of Cochrane during the 1960s to provide highway access from Smooth Rock Falls to the new Abitibi
Canyon Hydro-Electric Dam near Fraserdale. As originally envisioned in 1963, the proposed Smooth Rock Falls-Fraserdale Road was to be constructed as a Secondary
Highway, and was assigned the Secondary Highway 653 designation. However, shortly after construction started in 1963, a decision was made to renumber the route as
Tertiary Highway 807. The change in route numbers came into effect on September 18, 1964, long before the Smooth Rock Falls-Fraserdale Road was opened to traffic.
Accordingly, the Smooth Rock Falls-Fraserdale Road was never actually posted with the Highway 653 route number. The Smooth Rock Falls-Fraserdale Road was officially
opened to traffic on July 21, 1966, after almost three years of construction.
The new highway began at the north limits of Smooth Rock Falls and extended north for approximately 45 miles (72 km) to the tiny community of Fraserdale. The Department of Highways of Ontario (DHO) assumed jurisdiction and control of the newly-constructed route of Highway 807 on September 2, 1966, with the exception of the section of Highway 807 lying immediately north of the Highway 11 Junction within the built-up parts of Smooth Rock Falls & Kendrey Township. This non-assumed section of Highway 807 via Ross Road, Main Street and Dupont Street remained under municipal jurisdiction, but was designated as a Municipal Connecting Link by an Order-in-Council on July 28, 1966. The rest of the route of Highway 807 lying north of the urbanized parts of Smooth Rock Falls & Kendrey Township was legally designated as a Tertiary Highway by an Order-in-Council signed on September 22, 1966. A short access road was built by Ontario Hydro from Highway 807 at Fraserdale out to the Abitibi Canyon Dam and the Canyon Community company town. In 1967, the DHO began the process of acquiring jurisdiction and control over the Canyon Access Road. The Canyon Access Road was shown on an Assumption Plan prepared by the DHO on January 5, 1967. When the Assumption Plan was registered on February 20, 1967, the DHO was granted title to the Canyon Access Road. For some reason, however, the Canyon Access Road wasn't legally designated by an Order-in-Council as a highway until 1976, when the route was renumbered as Highway 634. Originally, Highway 807 was gravel-surfaced for its entire length. Highway 807 was paved from Highway 11 northerly through the urbanized portions of Smooth Rock Falls & Kendrey Township in 1966. The balance of the highway was paved with a primed bituminous surface in 1970. Tertiary Highway 807 was re-designated as Secondary Highway 634 in 1976. An Order-in-Council was signed on October 13, 1976, which legally re-designated the route of Highway 807 as a Secondary Highway. The Highway 807 route number was subsequently discontinued, although the route number was used again on a different, unrelated Highway 807, which existed in the Atikokan area during the 1980s. |
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