Ontario Highway 638 - Highway 17B

Highway 17B

From 2007 to 2009, the highway extended for an additional 15.6 kilometres westerly from Echo Bay, to another junction with Highway 17 in Sault Ste. Marie. The extended route from Echo Bay to Sault Ste. Marie was formerly an alignment of Highway 17, the route of the Trans-Canada Highway through the region, and was redesignated as part of Highway 638 when Highway 17 was rerouted along a four-lane expressway alignment which opened on October 31, 2007.

However, the Garden River First Nation, citing a 1909 agreement with the province whereby ownership of the highway reverts to the band after realignment, refused to accept the highway being badged as anything other than Highway 17B. The provincial Ministry of Transportation, has decommissioned most B-suffixed highways in Ontario, but the band posted unofficial "Highway 17B" signs at the eastern and western limits of the reserve.

The municipal councils of Sault Ste. Marie and Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional, which border Garden River on either side and are also located on the route of the disputed roadway, both passed municipal resolutions in 2007 supporting Garden River's position and calling on the province to designate the road as Highway 17B.

As of February 2009, the segment is officially designated as 17B, and the route of Highway 638 once again ends at its original pre-2007 terminus in Echo Bay. However, exit signs along the Highway 17 bypass route do not identify the road with a 17B shield, but only as Bar River Road.