Ontario Highway 610

Secondary Highway 610, commonly referred to as Highway 610, was a provincially maintained secondary highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that connected Highway 101 at Hoyle, east of Timmins, with former Highway 67 (now Municipal Road) near Barbers Bay, passing through the village of Connaught en route. Highway 610 was assumed by the Department of Highways, predecessor to the modern Ministry of Transportation of Ontario, in 1956, along with many of the secondary highways in Ontario. It remained unchanged between then and 1997, when it was decommissioned and transferred to the CIty of Timmins. The entire route is now known as Frederick House Lake Road.

Highway 610
Frederick House Lake Road
Route information
Maintained by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario
Length18.3 km[1] (11.4 mi)
Existed1956–April 1, 1997[2]
Major junctions
West end Highway 101 (Hoyle, Ontario)
East end Highway 67 (Barbers Bay, Ontario)
Highway system
← Highway 609→ Highway 611

Route description

Highway 610 began at Highway 101 in Hoyle, on the eastern side of Timmins, by travelling north and immediately curving northeast to cross the North Porcupine River. It travelled straight through thick forests, parallel to and northwest of an Ontario Northland Railway line for 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) before the road forked at Dugwal. Highway 610 took the eastward fork and crossed the railway line. It continued straight east for 3.4 kilometres (2.1 mi), crossing the Moose River midway before making a smooth 90 degree curve to the north around a swamp. the route travelled north to cross the railway line again before zig-zagging east, north and finally east into Connaught, where it crossed the Frederick House River. The last several kilometres of the route travelled parallel to and north of the railway line along the southern shoreline of Frederick House Lake before eventually crossing the railway and ending at Highway 67 near Barbers Bay, passing through the village of en route.[3]

History

Highway 610 was first assumed by the Department of Highways in 1956, along with several dozen other secondary highways. It was likely maintained as a development road prior to that.[4][5] It remained unchanged between then and the late 1990s. Budget constraints brought on by a recession in the early 1990s resulted in the Mike Harris provincial government forming the Who Does What? committee to determine cost-cutting measures in order to balance the budget after a deficit incurred by former premier Bob Rae.[6] It was determined that many Ontario highways no longer served long-distance traffic movement and should therefore be maintained by local or regional levels of government. The MTO consequently transferred many highways to lower levels of government in 1997 and 1998, removing a significant percentage of the provincial highway network.[7] On April 1, 1997, the entire route was decommissioned as a provincial highway and transferred to the City of Timmins.[2][8] Highway 610 is now known as Frederick House Lake Road throughout its length.[2]

Major intersections

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 610, as noted by the Ontario Department of Highways.[1] The entire route was located in Timmins. 

km[1]miDestinationsNotes
0.00.0 Highway 101
18.311.4 Highway 67
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References
  1. Ministry of Transportation and Communications (April 1, 1989). Provincial Highways Distance Table. Government of Ontario. p. 117. ISSN 0825-5350.
  2. Highway Transfers List (Report). Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. April 1, 1997. p. 8.
  3. Minutillo, Carmine (2009). Backroad Mapbook Northeastern Ontario (Map). Mussio Ventures. p. 54. §§ A4–B5. ISBN 978-1-897225-40-0.
  4. "Ontario Secondary Roads Now Designated 500, 600". 112 (33, 119). The Globe and Mail. February 4, 1956. p. 4. Two new Ontario road numbers appear on the province's 1956 official road map which will be ready for distribution next week. The new numbers are the 500 and 600 series and designate hundreds of miles of secondary roads which are wholly maintained by the Highways Department. More than 100 secondary roads will have their own numbers and signs this year. All of these secondary roads were taken into the province's main highways system because they form important connecting links with the King's Highways
  5. Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by C.P. Robins. Ontario Department of Highways. 1956. § H30–31.
  6. "The Age of Non-Planning". The Neptis Foundation. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  7. Association of Municipalities of ontario (Autumn 1999). "5.5 Highway Transfers". Local Services Realignment: A User's Guide (Report). Government of Ontario. p. 5.13. ISBN 0-7778-9068-2. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  8. Official Road Map (Map). Cartography by Cartography Section. Ministry of Transportation. 1990. § L36.
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