King's Highway 6 - www.OntHighways.com

Highway 6 is a long highway that stretches from Port Dover on the shores of Lake Erie to Highway 17 north of Espanola. Before 1997, Highway 6 continued a short distance west of Port Dover to Highway 24 south of Simcoe. This very long, and at times very busy highway exists in two distinct pieces; the southern piece, which is by far the longest of the two, runs from Port Dover through Hamilton, Guelph and Owen Sound to the tip of the Bruce Peninsula at Tobermory. The northern Highway 6 segment runs from South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island to the Highway 17 junction just north of Espanola. These distinct segments are linked from May to October by the Chi-Cheemaun Ferry which runs the distance in Lake Huron between Tobermory and South Baymouth. Outside of the ferry's season, it is not possible to continuously traverse the length of Highway 6. Until 1982, the northern Highway 6 segment had been designated as Highway 68 because of this discontinuity. It is my belief that the the Highway 68 designation better conveyed the disconnected nature of Highway 6 to the motoring public.

Old Style King's Highway 6 Shield

Southern Terminus: Currently: Highway 6 ends at the intersection of Walker and Main Streets in Port Dover
Pre-1997: Highway 6 continued west of Port Dover to the Highway 24 junction.

Northern Terminus: Highway 6 ends at the Highway 17 junction just north of Espanola.

Length: Pre-1997: 487.0km

Multiplexes: Currently Highway 6 is multiplexed with Highway 7 for 3.7 km on the Hanlon Parkway. Highway 6 is routed concurrently with Highway 10 and 21 in the Owen Sound area. Highway 6 is multiplexed with Highway 401 near Guelph, and for a short distance along Highway 403 near Hamilton as well. Before 1997, Highway 6 was also co-designated with Highway 2 and 8 in Hamilton.

Freeway: Highway 6 is a freeway where it runs concurrent with Highway 401 south of Guelph. Highway 6 is also legally co-designated with Highway 403 for 1.4 km, where it is also a freeway. The Hanlon Expressway is a divided at-grade expressway, that will likely be freeway-a-lized in the future. The Caledonia and Hamilton Bypasses are also designed to eventually become freeways after they are linked.

AADT (2002): Highest: 85,800 where Highway 6 runs concurrent with the 401 between exits 295 and 299;

Lowest: 760 from the South Baymouth Ferry docks northerly to Highway 542 junction.

Highway 6 information:

OntHighways.com		Detailed Route information: Page 1 (Highway 24 to Hamilton) Page 2 (Hamilton to Tobermory) - Coming Soon! Page 3 (Tobermory to Highway 17) - Coming Soon! Virtual Tour and other photos index

TheKingsHighway.ca		History of Highway 6 Photographic History of Highway 6

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Page last updated: August 11h, 2005

Page created: February 15th, 2004