Ontario Highway 69

Highway 69
Trans-Canada Highway
Highway 69 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario
Length	140.3 km[1] (87.2 mi)
Existed	August 5, 1936[2]–present
Major junctions
South end	Highway 400 near Carling (north of exit 241)
Major intersections	Highway 64 at Rutter
North end	Highway 17 in Sudbury
Location
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Highway system
Ontario provincial highways Current Former 400-series
← Highway 67 → Highway 71
Former provincial highways ←  Highway 68 Highway 70  →

King's Highway 69, commonly referred to as Highway 69, is a provincially maintained north–south highway in the central portion of the Canadian province of Ontario. In conjunction with Highway 400, it links Toronto with the city of Greater Sudbury at Highway 17, via Parry Sound. It is part of the Trans-Canada Highway and the National Highway System. From its southern terminus of Highway 559 at Carling, Highway 69 begins as Highway 400 narrows from a four-laned freeway to a two lane highway. It travels northerly for approximately 68 kilometres (42 mi) to south of the French River before widening back to a divided four lane freeway for approximately 64 kilometres (40 mi) into Sudbury. The final 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) of the route, connecting to Highway 17, is a five lane arterial road that will be converted to freeway as the final phase of the four-laning.

Highway 69 was first designated in 1936 when the Department of Highways (DHO) assumed the Rama Road between Atherley and Washago. This short route was extended the following year when the DHO merged with the Department of Northern Development and expanded the King's Highway network north of the Severn River. By the beginning of World War II, the route reached as far north as Britt; a separate segment connected the town of Burwash with Sudbury. However, the rationing of labour and materials due to the war effort resulted in these two sections remaining separated until the mid-1950s. In 1976, several reroutings and renumbering took place in the Muskoka area. As a result, the portion of Highway 69 between Brechin and Foot's Bay was renumbered as Highway 169, while the entirety of Highway 103 between Coldwater and Foot's Bay was renumbered as Highway 69.

Between 1956 and 1979, Highway 69 extended through and north of Sudbury. Until some point between 1974 and 1977, it reached as far north as Capreol, after which it was truncated at Hanmer. By 1980, the northern terminus had shifted to the Southwest Bypass, onto which Highway 17 was rerouted in 1995. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Highway 400 was gradually pushed north to its current terminus by twinning Highway 69, gradually truncating its length. A commitment to complete four-laning to Sudbury has been made by all three major provincial political parties in Ontario since 1991, but as of 2022 there remains 70 kilometres (43 mi) of two lane highway still to be constructed. Various former alignments of Highway 69 remain in use as directional carriageways of Highway 400 or as local roads. The highway forms part of the Georgian Bay Route of the Trans-Canada Highway, which continues south along Highway 400.