Ontario map highlights highway oddities from submerged roads to abandoned bridges

Abandoned bridges, incorrect signs and even submerged highways in Ontario are featured on a new map created by a first-year civil engineering student at the University of Waterloo.

Jonathan Silverman says that, ever since he was a child on family road trips, he would always notice when something looked a little out of place.

“I’ve always been interested in transportation, especially roads, and I would notice things in the car and, looking through maps, I would notice these unique things,” he said.

Silverman, who grew up in Thornhill, said he became especially interested in the history of the Ontario highway network and created the map so people “can look at this map and make their commute that much more interesting, because people drive past all these things every day and they have no idea.”

The map is on his website, Jonathan’s Junction. He also posted about it on Reddit, where he connected with others who shared tidbits of information about their parts of the province.

Abrupt ends and covered bridges

One particularly helpful contributor from Sudbury offered insights on interesting spots along Highway 69 north to Sudbury and on Highway 6 south to Manitoulin Island, including unused bridges at Key River.

Other points of interest include:

• The submerged stretch of Highway 2 south of Ottawa, flooded after the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway;
• The abrupt end of Highway 125 into Red Lake, close to the Manitoba border;
• The point near Sault Ste. Marie where Highway 17 changes direction;
• Several abandoned sections of Highway 6 between Fergus and Durham;
• The West Montrose Covered Bridge, originally built in 1881; and
• An abandoned, unused portion of Highway 407 near Oshawa.

Ontario really is ‘Yours to Discover’

Bradley Nazar of Pickering said he loves unusual roadside attractions and thinks Silverman’s map is a great resource.

“Whenever I’m driving on a highway up north and I see something out of the ordinary with a highway alignment or an old bridge, I always wonder what the story behind it is,” he said. “His map goes a ways to answering quite a of few of them.”

He said he and his sons go camping in provincial parks every summer and take back roads to get there. It gives him a better sense of the stories that make up the province.

“If I see a historic sign or monument that’s interesting, we pull over to look. It’s kind of a scavenger hunt for us,” he said.

“It’s cheesy, but off the big highways, the whole Ontario ‘Yours to Discover’ motto really rings true.”

Silverman said he thinks it’s “a great thing that people are so enthusiastic about contributing to the map.”

Silverman has seen so much interest in it — more than 25,000 views as of Friday — that he has added a section to his website called “On the Way Oddities” where people can enter their destination and get a list of unusual things to watch for along the way.