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King's Highway 11, commonly referred to as Highway 11, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. At , it is the second longest highway in the province, following Highway 17. Highway 11 begins at Highway 400 in Barrie, and arches through northern Ontario to the Ontario–Minnesota border at Rainy River via Thunder Bay; the road continues as Minnesota State Highway 72 across the Baudette-Rainy River International Bridge. North and west of North Bay, Highway 11 forms part of the Trans-Canada Highway. The highway is also part of MOM's Way between Thunder Bay and Rainy River. == History == Highway 11 was originally planned as a trunk road to connect the communities of Southern Ontario to those of Northern Ontario, as a continuous route from Toronto to North Bay. In 1919, Premier of Ontario Ernest Charles Drury created the Department of Public Highways, though much of the responsibility for establishing the route he left to minister of the new cabinet position, Frank Campbell Biggs. By linking together several previously built roads such as Yonge Street, Penetanguishene Road, Middle Crossroad and the Muskoka Road, all early colonization roads in this region, a continuous route was created between Toronto and North Bay; however, the new department's jurisdiction did not extend north of the Severn River. North of the Severn River, the roadway was maintained by the Department of Northern Development. Further expansion was planned with a new highway from North Bay to Cochrane. Construction began in 1925, including reconstruction of portions of the old Muskoka Road from Severn Bridge which was officially opened on July 2, 1927. When it was opened, it was named the Ferguson Highway, in honour of Premier George Howard Ferguson (Drury's successor). Roads in northern Ontario later came under the Ministry of Transportation and became provincial highways. Over the years, Highway 11 grew to stretch from downtown Toronto all the way to the Minnesota border. Highway 11 became synonymous with Yonge Street, the name of the street in Toronto which formed its southernmost segment. It is from this that Yonge Street gained a disputed reputation as the "longest street in the world". In 1997, the care of the highway portion south of Barrie, including Yonge Street, was transferred by the provincial government to various regional governments as part of significant cost reductions by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. This practice is called downloading, in that the financial burden will fall to a lower tier government; this is often used when a stretch of road lost its regional importance and it is improper to ask other taxpayers in other regions to pay for this road from which they derive no benefit. Along with the name Yonge Street, the section in York Region is now York Regional Road 1, the section in Simcoe County is now mostly Simcoe County 4. Within the city of Toronto, which does not have a regional road numbering system, it is now known simply as Yonge Street. Highway 11 consequently assumed the 1.1-kilometre highway stub formerly known as Highway 400A, and now ends at the interchange with Highway 400 just north of Barrie's city limits. In 2003, a major bridge failure at the Sgt. Aubrey Cosens VC Memorial Bridge at the Montreal River in Latchford caused a complete closure and significant detour. Highway 11 began to be upgraded beginning in the 1960s when the stretch between Barrie and Gravenhurst was upgraded to a 4 lane highway with a median barrier and right-in/right-out ramps, with a signed speed limit of 90 km/h. Upgrades continued in the 1970s between Gravenhurst and Huntsville, where the highway was built with a grass median and a mix of interchanges and at grade intersections. Major reconstruction of Highway 11 between North Bay and Huntsville began in 2003, upgrading the route from a two-lane rural highway to a four-lane road. In some sections the route was being built as an expressway with right-in/right-out ramps or at-grade intersections, while in others it was built as a full 400-Series freeway. Highway 11 crosses the 45th parallel (halfway between the equator and north pole) 600 metres north of the bridge carrying Highway 118 at interchange 182, just outside of Bracebridge. Due to a steep incline as it descends Thibeault Hill into North Bay, the southbound Algonquin Avenue segment of Highway 11 features the only runaway truck ramp on Ontario's highway system.〔("Northern Highways Program: 2010–2014 ). Ontario Ministry of Transportation.〕 The Ministry of Transportation is currently undertaking a study of potential highway improvements in the North Bay area, which may include a new westerly realignment of this segment to bypass the hill. On August 9, 2012, construction of the fully divided four lane freeway between Huntsville and North Bay was completed.〔("Highway 11 four-laning complete" ). ''North Bay Nugget'', August 10, 2012.〕 However, as the section south of Gravenhurst is still a RIRO expressway rather than a full freeway, the highway is not currently slated to be renumbered as Highway 411. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ontario Highway 11」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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