Ontario Highway 89

Cookstown
Location
Country	Cookstown, Harriston, Mount Forest, Shelburne
Highway system
Ontario provincial highways Current Former 400-series
← Highway 85 → Highway 93
Former provincial highways ←  Highway 88 Highway 90  →

King's Highway 89, commonly referred to as Highway 89, is an east–west

Highway 89 was established in 1937 as a result of the rerouting of Highway 9 between Orangeville and Highway 27. In 1963, the route was extended west to Palmerston and east to Highway 400. Plans were conceived during the late 1970s to push the highway further east to Highway 12 via Ravenshoe Road, resulting in a brief extension to Highway 11. However, environmental protest over the chosen route through the Holland Marsh resulted in the cancellation of plans in 1986. In 1997, the section between Highway 400 and Highway 11 was decommissioned. The most recent change to the route took place in 2003, when the section of Highway 89 between Palmerston and Harriston was renumbered as part of Highway 23, creating a shared terminus at a junction with Highway 9.

Route description

The route forms the main streets of several of the small towns that dot the highway east to west, namely Cookstown, Alliston and Shelburne. The highway also forms the backbone of many small villages and hamlets between the larger centres, such as Conn, Keldon, Primrose, Violet Hill, Rosemont and Nicolston.^[2]

The highway formerly continued past its current eastern terminus at Highway 400 to

The highway mostly runs through farmland and small communities, although the route does pass by Earl Rowe Provincial Park and the Honda car manufacturing plant in the Alliston area. Other parks and natural areas that are close to the route are Boyne Valley Provincial Park and Mono Cliffs Provincial Park, both of which are located on the Niagara Escarpment. Further west is the Luther Marsh Conservation Area, a vast wilderness area that surrounds Luther Lake.^[2]

History

Highway 89 was created out of a highway rerouting in the late 1930s. Originally, it formed the routing of Highway 9, which until then turned north at Orangeville, travelling concurrently with Highway 10, then turning east to Cookstown. On February 10, 1937, Highway 9 was rerouted along its present course east of Orangeville.^[4] By 1938, Highway 89 was designated along the former route of Highway 9.^[5]

Highway 89 remained as-is until the early 1960s, when it was extended west to Palmerston and east to Highway 400. On April 1, 1963, the highway was assumed through the counties of Dufferin, Grey and Wellington.^[6] The section between Highway 27 and Highway 400 was assumed the following day.^[7]

During the mid-1970s, Highway 89 was extended east to

Extension to Highway 12

During the late 1970s, plans arose to create a new highway link on the south side of Lake Simcoe to connect Highway 400 and Highway 12. The route for this extension was announced on June 30, 1978. It was to follow 11th Line from Highway 400 east to the Holland Marsh, where it would cross towards the northeast onto the alignment of Ravenshoe Road (York Road 32). The extension would traverse the length of Ravenshoe Road to Lakeridge Road (Durham Road 23), where it would zig-zag onto Concession Road 7 to end immediately north of Sunderland.^[10] However, heavy environmental protests ensued over the chosen route through the marsh. Consequently, then Transportation Minister Ed Fulton officially cancelled the extension on April 21, 1986.^[11] The proposal has since been reborn as the Bradford Bypass.^[12]

Major intersections

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 89, as noted by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.^[1] 

Division	Location	km[1]	mi	Destinations	Notes
County Road 109 east – Teviotdale, Orangeville /  Highway 23 south – London
	County Road 2 – Clifford
Wellington–Grey	Mount Forest	15.0	9.3		Beginning of Mount Forest Connecting Link agreement
		16.9	10.5	Guelph
		18.2	11.3		End of Mount Forest Connecting Link agreement
	Flesherton
East Luther-Grand Valley	47.9	29.8	County Road 25 south – Grand Valley	Formerly Highway 25
	Shelburne	59.7	37.1		Beginning of Shelburne Connecting Link agreement
		61.3	38.1	Owen Sound	Beginning of Highway 10 concurrency and former Highway 24 concurrency
				County Road 124 – Collingwood	End of former Highway 24 concurrency
		66.2	41.1	Highway 10 south – Orangeville	End of Highway 10 concurrency; end of Shelburne Connecting Link agreement
County Road 50 south – Bolton	Formerly Highway 50
	Barrie
	Fennell	112.4	69.8	Highway 11 (Yonge Street)	Decommissioned
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Closed/former

References