History
The history of Highway 68 dates to 1929, when the Department of Northern Development (DND) constructed a 56 km (35 mi) gravel road between McKerrow and Goat Island. From there, a railway and ferry crossed the North Channel to Little Current on Manitoulin Island. On April 1, 1937, the DND merged into the Department of Highways (DHO), and the latter began to assume and number trunk roadways in central and northern Ontario. On August 11, 1937, the DHO took control of the Little Current Road. At its northern terminus, Highway 17 was rerouted in 1939, bypassing the old alignment between Webbwood and McKerrow. As a result, Highway 68 was extended north by 2 km (1.2 mi) to meet this new alignment.
During World War II, the rail bridge over the North Channel was abandoned, and subsequently redecked for highway use in 1945. Highway 68 was extended across the channel to Little Current, increasing its length by 1 km (0.62 mi). However, Manitoulin Island would still remain without a highway of its own until the mid-1950s. On December 7, 1955, the route was extended 41.5 mi (66.8 km) across the island to South Baymooth.
While the road was re-aligned somewhat throughout its history (many of the re-alignments took place in the late 1950s and early 1960s), and its overall path has not changed, its length has varied considerably during re-alignments, creeping as high as 130 km during the 1960s, before settling back down to its current value of around 116 km. Some former alignments (such as "Devil's Elbow Road") are still in use. The road was fully paved by 1973, making this road one of the last Kings Highways in the province to be paved in its entirety (with the last Kings Highway to be paved being Highway 129 in 1983).
During the spring of 1980, the entire length of Highway 68 was renumbered as part of Highway 6. The two discontinuous sections of Highway 6 are linked only by a privately-operated ferry, the Chi-Cheemaun, which runs daily from May to October from South Baymouth to Tobermory, across Georgian Bay.
Read more about this topic: Ontario Highway 68
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