Ontario Highway 541A Explained

Province:ON
Type:Secondary
Route:541A
Alternate Name:Longyear Drive, Falconbridge Highway
Maint:the Ministry of Transportation and Communications
Length Km:3.2
Established:1956
Direction A:West
Direction B:East
Terminus B:Falconbridge mine entrance
Previous Type:ON
Previous Route:541
Next Type:ON
Next Route:542

Secondary Highway 541A, commonly referred to as Highway 541A, was a provincially maintained secondary highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. This short 3.2km (02miles) spur connected Highway 541 (now Greater Sudbury Road 86) north of Garson with the community of Falconbridge.

Highway 541A is now known as Municipal Road 89, and follows Longyear Drive. It was formally part of the Falconbridge Highway, and existed originally as a spur of Highway 541 when secondary highways were first introduced in 1956. The route gained its own designation by 1962, and continued to exist until the formation of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury, now Greater Sudbury, in 1973.

Route description

Highway 541A was a short spur of Highway 541, connecting it to the large mines at Falconbridge. It began in the west at an intersection with Highway 541 at Skead Road, and travelled east into the town, ending at the entrance to the mine. Most of the route is surrounded by undeveloped lands, except the final 700m (2,300feet) that lie in the residential portion of Falconbridge.

History

The route of Highway 541 was first assumed by the Department of Highways in early 1956, along with several dozen other secondary highways. The route formed a spur of Highway 541 originally, without its own designation;[1] [2] it did not gain its own route number until 1962.[3] [4] The highway followed the northernmost portion of the Falconbridge Highway, a road constructed in 1937 to connect Sudbury with the mining deposits located in the area several decades earlier.[5] The route remained unchanged until the formation of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury, now Greater Sudbury, in 1973. By 1974, the highway was transferred to the region.[6] [7] Today it is known as Sudbury Regional Road 89.[8]

Notes and References

  1. Ontario Road Map . C.P. Robins . Ontario Department of Highways . 1956 . M31.
  2. News: Ontario Secondary Roads Now Designated 500, 600 . The Globe and Mail . February 4, 1956 . 4 . 112 . 33,119 . 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.
  3. Ontario Road Map . C.P. Robins . Ontario Department of Highways . 1961 . M31.
  4. Ontario Road Map . C.P. Robins . Ontario Department of Highways . 1962 . M31.
  5. Book: Oiva W. , Saarinen . From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City: A Historical Geography of Greater Sudbury . Wilfrid Laurier Press . 2013 . 129–130 . 9781554588749 . March 27, 2015.
  6. Ontario Road Map . Photogrammetry Office . Ministry of Transportation and Communications . 1973 . B21.
  7. Ontario Road Map . Cartography Section . Ministry of Transportation and Communications . 1974 . B21.
  8. Ontario Back Road Atlas . 2010 . Peter Heiler . . 101 . B20–21 . 978-1-55198-226-7.