Manitoba Highways

[wave46]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Oh yea this is actually why I asked (though, lol, yes, even I know it's a long way from now). I was wondering if having a divided highway between Falcon and Kenora might make that option attractive.

Anyway, the responses from y'all so far look pretty interesting. I like the variety thereof.

Ps: I also found it flattering when Kenora is listed as control city on the southern leg of Perimeter Highway. In Ontario, heading west, it probably won't even be listed as such until west of Thunder Bay, both of which are in Northwestern Ontario...

Ontario tends not to put out-of-province control cities on its signage. So, the eastbound 401 lists Cornwall as the next city past Kingston instead of Montreal.

I think the eastbound 417 past Ottawa is the only exception I can think of. It uses Montreal simply because there's almost nothing of note along that stretch.

Other than Kenora, there is no real place of note along MB Highway 1/Ontario 17 before Kenora. (Sorry Deacons Corner and East Braintree)

The only reasons I could see living in Kenora and occasionally commuting to Winnipeg might be family and living in a lower tax jurisdiction. It's not like the commuter shed of Winnipeg is so expensive that you need to be 2 hours outside of it to actually get reasonable housing costs, unlike the Greater Toronto Area.

[wave46]

Originally Posted by Spocket

For me the question is "why?" I just can't see any sort of advantage to commuting all the way from Kenora to Winnipeg on a semi-regular basis. Obviously there will be some who choose to do so for whatever reason but hardly enough to put Kenora in Winnipeg's commutershed.

I wouldn't put Parry Sound, ON in the Toronto commutershed, despite it being close to the same distance apart and having a 4-lane highway the whole way.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by wave46

Other than Kenora, there is no real place of note along MB Highway 1/Ontario 17 before Kenora. (Sorry Deacons Corner and East Braintree)

I was thinking that was the reason why Kenora is the control city on some signs... there is simply nothing of significance on the TCH heading east until you hit Kenora. There are places like Ste. Anne, but they are not right on the TCH itself.

Although that said, I'm pretty sure that I've seen Falcon Lake used as a control city on some signs (maybe on the north Perimeter?). I'm sure that Falcon Lake would be far less recognizable to most than Kenora, though... especially for out of province traffic on the TCH.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Oh yea this is actually why I asked (though, lol, yes, even I know it's a long way from now). I was wondering if having a divided highway between Falcon and Kenora might make that option attractive.

Anyway, the responses from y'all so far look pretty interesting. I like the variety thereof.

Ps: I also found it flattering when Kenora is listed as control city on the southern leg of Perimeter Highway. In Ontario, heading west, it probably won't even be listed as such until west of Thunder Bay, both of which are in Northwestern Ontario...

We still claim Kenora as part of Manitoba. It's really the only town on the highway, which didn't exist in any form until the late 1950s. There was just nothing there except the GWWD Railway stops at East Braintree and McMunn.

Quite an interesting story of those villages, which always seemed slightly surreal when we'd pass them on the way to the lake. What are these two little places doing in the middle of nothing?

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by Andy6

We still claim Kenora as part of Manitoba.

Of course, Andy, of course~
The District of Kenora (possibly excluding the former District of Patricia) is basically Manitoba extended.

Originally Posted by Andy6

Quite an interesting story of those villages, which always seemed slightly surreal when we'd pass them on the way to the lake. What are these two little places doing in the middle of nothing?

Speaking of that, does anyone know where exactly Shoal Lake 40's Freedom Road joins TCH? It's been a year and Google Map still doesn't show the intersection.

[drew]

^ about a kilometre west of where the TCH goes from 4 to 2 lanes. Just west of falcon lake.

[zalf]

It's mapped on OSM:
https://www.openstreetmap.org/query?....6633/-95.3400

[Dengler Avenue]

Ah that makes sense. Thanks.

[Wpgstvsouth94]

Had to drive to Niverville yesterday. I took Highway 200 all the way to 311 I could not believe the condition of that road from St. Mary’s and the perimeter to Niverville. Does MIT have any plans to resurface that route?

[WildCake]

Originally Posted by Wpgstvsouth94

Had to drive to Niverville yesterday. I took Highway 200 all the way to 311 I could not believe the condition of that road from St. Mary’s and the perimeter to Niverville. Does MIT have any plans to resurface that route?

Haven't driven that route in a few months but the stretch south of the floodway to st adolphe was in good shape. North of floodway to perimeter is attrocious but that's within city limits, and south of st adolphe was mediocre. I wonder if the mild weather and freeze thaws has roughed things up

[OTA in Winnipeg]

Originally Posted by Andy6

We still claim Kenora as part of Manitoba. It's really the only town on the highway, which didn't exist in any form until the late 1950s. There was just nothing there except the GWWD Railway stops at East Braintree and McMunn.

Kenora's been there for a long, long time. Used to be Rat Portage of course. My parents and grandparents grew up there. Part of that town used to be in Manitoba.

[drew]

Originally Posted by OTA in Winnipeg

Kenora's been there for a long, long time. Used to be Rat Portage of course. My parents and grandparents grew up there. Part of that town used to be in Manitoba.

This is my favorite bit of Kenora related trivia:

The name "Kenora" was coined by combining the first two letters of Keewatin, Norman and Rat Portage.

[OTA in Winnipeg]

^

A little more that a small clearing in the bush, this rustic little village was the main object of interest in the Ontario-Manitoba border dispute from 1870 - 1884. Each province claimed the town as part of their territory ~ both provinces had jails in the town, both issued titles to mining claims and lumber licenses.

https://visitsunsetcountry.com/histo...ontario-canada

https://themusekenora.ca/historical-timeline/

[Dengler Avenue]

https://goo.gl/maps/tzVG9RKstApzT4jz5
Lol why is 44 divided here? I know it used to be TCH half a century ago. Still, it’s a rather odd place to be divided.

[esquire]

I can only assume it was to improve safety for those turning left... normally that highway isn't very busy but I can see it getting quite congested at peak periods of summer weekends with cottage and camping traffic.

There are a couple of instances around the province like that where a 2-lane highway is divided for a short stretch to improve intersection safety. This one is just a bit longer than what you'd normally see.

[bomberjet]

Just fer the intersection. Old time ways of making it safe. Probably better than most of the south perimeter.

[esquire]

Old time is right, those lanes are very narrow. I'm surprised the government didn't just turn it into one fairly wide lane in each direction along the lines of what there is on PTH 8 near Gimli.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Similar to PTH 10 TCH 16 intersection at Minnedosa.

[Dengler Avenue]

And 16 through Russell too

[bomberjet]

There are intersections like this all over the place. Just this one does seems to be stuck in a time warp of sorts. As with everything in the Whiteshell, it's dated. But functions.