Ontario Highway 26
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| Maintained by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario | |||||||||||||
| Length: | 113.7 km (70.6 mi) | ||||||||||||
| Existed: | July 2, 1927 – present | ||||||||||||
| Major junctions | |||||||||||||
| West end: |
   Highway 6 / Highway 10 / Highway 21 in Owen Sound
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 Simcoe County Road 124 (Hurontario Street) |
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| East end: |
 Highway 400 in Barrie
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| Major cities: | Owen Sound, Meaford, Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, Stayner, Barrie | ||||||||||||
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King's Highway 26, commonly referred to as Highway 26, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario, connecting the cities of Barrie and Owen Sound. Between these two cities, the highway serves the southern shoreline of Georgian Bay, passing through Stayner, Collingwood and Meaford and by the Blue Mountain Resort. In addition, the highway serves as the main route to Wasaga Beach, a popular recreational destination during the summer months.
Highway 26 was established in 1926, and has remained almost unchanged since then, with the exception of the Pretty River Parkway diversion. A new alignment of the highway between Collingwood and Stayner was opened on November 15, 2012.
Highway 26 between Owen Sound and Meaford in the west is not as highly traveled as the tourist area to the east. It is also not a very straight route, as the highway makes four right-hand turns at signalled intersections, including the junction with Simcoe Road 27 (formerly Highway 27) north of Barrie (which is not signalled), the intersection with Simcoe Roads 91 and 42 in downtown Stayner (which lacks a right-hand turn lane), Hume Street in eastern Collingwood, and High street in western Collingwood. Although there is a Realignment Program currently underway.
The routing of the highway takes it from the junction with Highway 6, Highway 10 and Highway 21 in Owen Sound to its terminus at Highway 400 in Barrie at the Bayfield street interchange. For a time, the highway continued southward to Dunlop street, formerly Highway 11, in Barrie, cosigned with Highway 27. The southern portion of Bayfield street was downloaded to the City of Barrie along with Dunlop street in 1997, when these sections of Highway 27 and 11 were eliminated. This shortened the highway's length by 1.3 kilometers and removed the 7.2 kilometer concurrency with Highway 27. The highway's current length is 115.7 km.
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