Secondary Highway 560, commonly referred to as Highway 560, is a provincially maintained secondary highway in the northern section of the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

province of

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. It begins in the west at an intersection with Highway 144 and the

Sultan Industrial Road The Sultan Industrial Road, also sometimes unofficially known as Ramsey Industrial Road, is a public–private forest access road in the Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Originally built as a resource route for E. B. Eddy Company, E. B. Eddy' ...

and proceeds east to Highway 11 at

Englehart Englehart (Canada 2021 Census population 1,442) is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located on the Blanche River in the Timiskaming District. Kap-Kig-Iwan Provincial Park is located near the town of Englehart. History The Tow ...

. Highway560 was established, along with many of the secondary highways in Ontario, in 1956. It was extended westward to

Ontario Highway 144 King's Highway 144, commonly referred to as Highway 144, is a provincially maintained highway in the northern portion of the Canadian province of Ontario, linking the cities of Greater Sudbury and Timmins. The highway is one of the most isolated ...

in 1965. Aside from minor realignments along its isolated route, the route has remained unchanged since then.

Route description

Highway560 is a remote route through some of the most isolated parts of

Northeastern Ontario Northeastern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario, which lies north of Lake Huron and east of Lake Superior. Northeastern Ontario consists of the districts of Algoma, Sudbury, Cochrane, Timisk ...

, spanning between Highway144, where the road continues west as the Sultan Industrial Road, and Highway11 at Englehart. There are few gas stations and services located along the route, which is heavily travelled by

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucks The first of the route is relatively straight, though like the rest of the highway, there are few signs of habitation along its journey through thick

forests A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological functio ...

in the

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield ( ), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), th ...

; the hamlet of

Ostrom Ostrom or Öström is a Swedish surname meaning "island stream". History Many of the Ostroms in North America are descendants of a Dutch immigrant to New Amsterdam in the 1600s. The name was van Oosteroom and originated in the area of Utrecht ...

is an exception to this. At Morin Village, the spur route Highway560A branches southwest to the village of Westree. Highway560 meanders around several lakes dotting the remainder of its journey to Englehart, serving the communities of Shining Tree and

Gowganda Gowganda is a Dispersed Rural Community and unincorporated place in geographic Nicol Township, Timiskaming District, in northeastern Ontario, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten pr ...

along its twisting route. It also provides access to the West Montreal River Provincial Park at two locations west of Gowganda. Within this vast uninhabited region, Highway560 is the closest public road to the highest point in Ontario,

Ishpatina Ridge Ishpatina Ridge is the highest point of land in the Canadian province of Ontario, at an estimated above sea level. Ishpatina Ridge rises approximately above the immediate area. It was only truly recognized as Ontario's highest point after topogr ...

.The Atlas of Canada
At Elk Lake, the route provides access to Makobe - Grays River Provincial Park and then meets Highway 65, with which it shares a

concurrency Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...

. It continues another through dense forests before suddenly emerging into the

Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben The Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben (also known as the Ottawa Graben) is a geological structure that coincides with a wide topographic depression extending from near Montréal through Ottawa. It is part of the Saint Lawrence rift system that also inclu ...

. The remaining of Highway560 travels through agricultural lands, as well as the community of Charlton (where it intersects Highway 573), before ending at Highway11 on the western edge of Englehart. Like other provincial routes in Ontario, Highway560 is maintained by the

Ministry of Transportation of Ontario The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is the provincial ministry of the Government of Ontario that is responsible for transport infrastructure and related law in Ontario, Canada. The ministry traces its roots back over a century to the 1890s, w ...

. In 2016, traffic surveys conducted by the ministry showed that on

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

, 1,100vehicles used the highway daily along the section between Highway11 and Highway573 (Bay Street) while 180vehicles did so each day along the section between the latter and Highway65, the highest and lowest counts along the highway, respectively.

Highway 560A

Highway560A is a secondary highway which serves as a short spur route from Highway560 southwest to the railway

flag stop In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a bus stop, stop or train station, station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or drop ...

in the community of Westree. Its total length is . Based on the metrics provided in the section above, an average of 190vehicles traverse the highway each day.

History

Highway560 was first designated in early 1956, like many of the secondary highways in Ontario. It initially provided the only access into the interior of the Temagami region and

Gogama Gogama is a Northeastern Ontario community that is situated on Lake Minisinakwa, 580 kilometres north of Toronto, 191 km north of Sudbury, and 114 km south of Timmins. In the Canada 2011 Census, a population of 277 people was recorded ...

. However, in the mid-1960s, work began on a new link between

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario ** Sudbury (federal electoral district) ** Sudbury (provincial electoral district) ** Sudbury Airport ** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...

and

Timmins Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 at the 2021 Canadian census and an estimated population of ...

. was absorbed into the route of Highway144 in April 1965. Since then, the western terminus of Highway560 has been at Highway144. Although numerous minor realignments have been made to the route over the years, the general alignment of the highway has remained unchanged.

Major intersections

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 560. {, class="wikitable" style="width:100%;" , - !scope="col", Division !scope="col", Location !scope="col", km !scope="col", Destinations !scope="col", Notes , - , colspan="5" align="center", continues west as the

, - , rowspan="3",

, , 0.0 , , , - , Morin Village , 31.0 , , , - , , 41.7 , , Opikimimk River Bridge , - , rowspan="5", Timiskaming ,

, 100.9 , , Gowganda Creek Bridge , - , rowspan="2", Elk Lake , 143.1 , , Beginning of Highway 65

, - , 144.1 , , End of Highway 65 concurrency , - , Charlton , 174.7 , , , - ,

, 183.9 , , Trans-Canada Highway

References

External links

Highway 560 at OntHighways.com
{{Ontario Secondary Highways 560 Roads in Sudbury District Roads in Timiskaming District