Ontario Highway 86 Photographs - Page 1 - History of Ontario's Kings Highways

Above - West Montrose Covered Bridge on Hwy 86, facing west towards Elmira in 1946. This historic bridge was built in 1881 under the direction of the Woolwich Township Council. The bridge was constructed by John and Sam Bear, using mostly white pine timbers cut from tree stands in the Blair and Doon areas of present-day Cambridge and Kitchener, respectively. Some of the original timbers used to construct the bridge were 9 inches by 18 inches and were 50 feet in length. The bridge was eventually assumed by the County of Waterloo from Woolwich Township. The Department of Highways of Ontario (DHO) subsequently acquired the West Montrose Covered Bridge when the province assumed jurisdiction over the Elmira to Guelph Road as an extension of King's Highway 86 in April 1938. To put the age of the West Montrose Covered Bridge into perspective, the structure is nearly as old as Canada itself - it was built a mere 14 years after Canada's Confederation in 1867! See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken on October 23, 1946.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1946)

Above - Side view of the West Montrose Covered Bridge on Hwy 86 prior to repainting. The covered bridge is 196 feet, 6 inches in length, plus an additional 6-foot overhang at each portal. Thus, the total length of the bridge is 208 feet, 6 inches. This is the only surviving example of a historical 19th Century covered bridge left in Ontario. The roadway width across the bridge is less than 20 feet, so effectively, it operates as a one-lane bridge. In the 1950s, the DHO reported the roadway width across the structure to be 17 feet (5.2 metres), but until recently, signs were posted which indicated that the roadway width was only 4.6 metres. The vertical clearance was reported to be 12 feet, 10 inches (3.9 metres) by DHO in 1961, although the bridge is posted with maximum clearance signs of 3.6 metres today. The covered bridge design never saw widespread use in Ontario, with only five covered bridges known to have ever been built historically throughout the province. The other four examples were all located in Eastern Ontario - one each in Martintown and Williamstown in Glengarry County, one near Frankford in Hastings County and one near Napanee in Lennox & Addington County. The covered bridge near Napanee managed to survive into the 1930s, but was removed from service in 1936. With the Napanee example demolished, the West Montrose Covered Bridge was left as the only surviving example of this very rare bridge type in Ontario. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken circa 1953.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1959)

Above - Interior view of the West Montrose Covered Bridge on Hwy 86, with wooden plank decking. A restoration project was carried out by DHO's bridge crews in the mid-1950s to replace the old plank deck seen here with a new laminated floor of 2-by-4 boards, which were covered with a thin layer of asphalt-bonded crushed stone. This bituminous surface was then rolled into place for a smooth driving surface through the bridge. Other upgrades included levelling up the bridge at the centre pier, various structural repairs, bearing replacements, improved electrical illumination through the bridge and restoration of all 24 of the bridge's window shutters. Although a modern retrofit, the new electrical illumination system was housed inside 19th Century-styled lanterns placed at intervals of 40 feet. This embellishment was a historical reference to the neighbourly gestures of early residents of West Montrose. It is said that residents took similar-styled oil-powered lanterns out to the bridge at night and hung them from the bridge's rafters to welcome weary stagecoach travellers to their village. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken circa 1953.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1959)

Left - Facing east along Hwy 86 about 1/2 mile southeast of Whitechurch, showing new hot-mix asphalt pavement and zone striping between Wingham and Lucknow, Contract #1955-82. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken on October 26, 1955.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1955)

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Right - Construction of the new Little Maitland River Bridge (Hyslop Bridge) on Hwy 86, located about 10 miles northwest of Listowel. This new concrete structure was built under Contract #1955-296. It replaced a narrow steel truss bridge with only one traffic lane. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken on September 5, 1956.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1956)

Above - A car emerges from the south portal of the freshly-painted West Montrose Covered Bridge on Hwy 86. The historic covered bridge was repainted by DHO District #3 (Stratford) bridge maintenance crews during 1957. The West Montrose Covered Bridge is known locally as "The Kissing Bridge" and was one of the Ontario filming locations featured in the 2017 blockbuster movie, "It". See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken on August 16, 1957.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1957)

Left - West Montrose Diversion under construction on Hwy 86 New, facing west towards Elmira from the Grand River Bridge, Contract #1957-150 (grading) & Contract #1958-47 (structural). This new diversion was built in the late 1950s to carry through traffic on Hwy 86 around the Village of West Montrose. In addition to expediting traffic flow, the diversion also kept heavy traffic off of the historical covered bridge in the village centre. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken in 1958.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1958)

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Right - Completed grading for the Bluevale Diversion on Hwy 86, Contract #1957-203. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken in 1958.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1958)

Above - Photo of one of the four rice paper sketches affixed to the Grand River Bridge on the West Montrose Diversion (Hwy 86 New). As part of the planning for the new bypass around West Montrose, four vignettes were prepared which commemorated Waterloo County's early pioneer life. The drawings were sketched by Peter Sepp, an architectural student who worked with DHO's District #3 (Stratford) during the bridge's planning phases in the late 1950s. This particular sketch is of a covered Conestoga Wagon, which many early settlers used to travel to this part of Ontario in the early 1800s. When the Grand River Bridge was ultimately constructed in 1958, Sepp's drawings were encased in heavy plastic to protect them from the elements and were affixed to the concrete handrail posts at the four bridge corners. This was reportedly the first time such a technique was used to enhance a bridge in North America, but it was undisputedly a first for DHO. In more recent years, various decorative enhancements have been built into modern highway bridges in order to commemorate local history, culture or landscapes. It would seem that Sepp's drawings were well ahead of their time! See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken in 1958.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1958)

Above - Completed Grand River Bridge on the West Montrose Diversion (Hwy 86 New) after final paving, Contract #1958-47 (structural) and Contract #1959-06 (paving). The new Grand River Bridge was built at a cost of just over $200,000 (in 1958 Dollars), which is the equivalent of about $2.1 million in 2023 Dollars. The new bridge was officially opened to traffic in December 1958. Careful observers will note the decorative panels with Peter Sepp's sketches on either end of the bridge's handrails. When the Grand River Bridge was rehabilitated in the 1990s, the decorative vignettes were removed and not reinstalled. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken in 1959.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1959)

Above - West Montrose Covered Bridge over the Grand River on Old Hwy 86. After being bypassed in 1958, long-distance through traffic no longer had to cross the Grand River through the covered bridge. The old bridge sits on a lightly-travelled road in Woolwich Township and now carries only local and tourism traffic. Note that the maximum bridge load limit was set at 5 tons, which was one quarter of the typical 20 ton load limit used on provincial highway bridges at the time. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken in 1960.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1960)

Above - Maitland River Bridge (Zetland Bridge) nearing completion on Hwy 86 west of Wingham, Contract #1962-11 (structural steel) and Contract #1962-60 (concrete substructure and approaches). This was one of several new bridges built along Hwy 86 in the 1960s to replace old steel and iron through truss bridges along the highway. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken in 1963.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1963)

Above - Construction of the new Conestoga River Bridge on Hwy 86 west of Elmira at Wallenstein, Contracts #1964-16 (beams) & #1964-123 (grading, concrete substructure and approaches). The old two-span through truss bridge can be seen on existing Hwy 86 in the background, which was removed once the new bridge was completed. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken in 1964.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1964)

Left - Completed Conestoga River Bridge on Hwy 86 west of Elmira at Wallenstein. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken in 1964.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1964)

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Right - Construction crew placing wooden formwork for a new concrete barrel arch culvert over Kirkland Creek located 5 1/4 miles west of Elmira, Contract #1964-123. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken in 1964.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1964)

Left - Hot-mix paving operations underway on Hwy 86 west of Molesworth, Contract #1966-500. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken in 1966.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1966)

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Right - Construction of the new Maitland River Bridge on the Wingham Bypass (Hwy 86 New), Contract #1967-48. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken in 1967.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1967)

Left - Construction of the Wingham Bypass (Hwy 86 New), facing west from Hwy 4, Contract #1967-48. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken in 1967.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1967)

Right - Circa 1977 postcard view of the original Hwy 85 & Hwy 86 Junction in Downtown Elmira, prior to the relocation of Hwy 85 onto the new Elmira Bypass. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph courtesy of Fred Curylo)

Left - Circa 1980 postcard view of horse-drawn Mennonite wagons on Hwy 86 at the Conestoga River Bridge at Wallenstein. Even today, horse-drawn vehicles are commonly seen on the roads and highways surrounding Kitchener-Waterloo due to the large number of Mennonite and Amish communities in the vicinity. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph courtesy of Fred Curylo)

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Right - Western side of the West Montrose Covered Bridge on Old Hwy 86 in 1987. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken in March 1987 - © Cameron Bevers)

Above - View of the Grand River Bridge on the West Montrose Diversion in 1987. This three-span bridge was built on the West Montrose Bypass in 1958, so that through traffic would no longer have to cross through the historic West Montrose Covered Bridge. Of note, these are among my earliest highway photographs. They were taken for a school project. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken in March 1987 - © Cameron Bevers)