Ontario Highway 655


Highway 655 is a secondary highway in the Cochrane District in Northern Ontario. The route is in length. It is heavily used by trucks as a critical access road to Timmins. The highway is one of the widest, best-maintained secondary highways in the north, and has the distinction of being Ontario's only secondary highway that features a 90 km/h speed limit, due to its importance and high design standards.

Route description

Highway 655 begins at Highway 101 in Timmins, where it travels north, generally paralleling a high-voltage transmission line. Approximately north of Highway 101, the route encounters the entrance road to the Kidd Creek Mine, and traffic must turn to remain on the highway. It then travels through a long and straight stretch for, isolated from any communities or services until it encounters Highway 11, southeast of the community of Driftwood.
Like other provincial routes in Ontario, Highway 655 is maintained by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. In 2010, traffic surveys conducted by the ministry showed that on average, 8,400 vehicles used the highway daily along the section between Highway 101 and Ross Avenue in Timmins while 1,150 vehicles did so each day along the section north of the Kidd Creek Mine at Kidd Creek Mine Road, the highest and lowest counts along the highway, respectively.

History

Opened in 1965, it was originally known as the Texas Gulf Highway, and ended at the entrance to the Texas Gulf Mining Complex.
It was expanded from its original length to its current length in 1979, creating a more efficient link between Timmins and northern communities along Highway 11 such as Smooth Rock Falls, Cochrane and Kapuskasing.

Major intersections