King's Highway 14, commonly referred to as Highway 14, was a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 province of Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. At its peak length, the route connected Highway 33 in Bloomfield with Highway 7

Ontario Highway 7

King's Highway 7, commonly referred to as Highway 7 and historically as the Northern Highway, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario...

 in Marmora

Marmora, Ontario

Marmora is the largest community in the Municipality of Marmora and Lake in Hastings County, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Crowe River and along Highway 7 between Havelock to the west and Madoc to the east, about the half way point between Ottawa and Toronto.-History:The village was named...

. The route was decommissioned entirely on April 1, 1997.

History

Highway 14 was one of the original 17 provincial highways formed in the early 1920s. The predecessor of the Ministry of Transportation, the Department of Public Highways in Ontario (DPHO) had assumed control of two roads in Eastern Ontario

Eastern Ontario

Eastern Ontario is a subregion of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies in a wedge-shaped area between the Ottawa River and St. Lawrence River...

, the Picton

Picton, Ontario

Picton is an unincorporated community located in Prince Edward County in southern Central Ontario, Canada. It is the county seat and largest community. Picton is located at the south-western end of Picton Bay, a branch of the Bay of Quinte, which is along the northern shoreline of Lake Ontario...

-Belleville

Belleville, Ontario

Belleville is a city located at the mouth of the Moira River on the Bay of Quinte in Southern Ontario, Canada, in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. It is the seat of Hastings County, but is politically independent of it. and the centre of the Bay of Quinte Region...

 road, and the Foxboro-Belleville

Belleville, Ontario

Belleville is a city located at the mouth of the Moira River on the Bay of Quinte in Southern Ontario, Canada, in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. It is the seat of Hastings County, but is politically independent of it. and the centre of the Bay of Quinte Region...

 Road. Its routing led from the town of Foxboro, to the town of Picton. At first, the road was not given a route number, and was simply referred to as the Foxboro-Picton Highway. In 1925, the Provincial Government and Department of Highways had decided to number the provincially-controlled highways, and the road was given the designation of Highway 14. Most of the road had been paved by 1925, and the last gravel sections (south of Belleville, and north of Bloomfield) were paved in 1927. This road was the second provincial highway to be fully paved, with Highway 5

Highway 5 (Ontario)

King's Highway 5, also known as Highway 5 and historically as the Dundas Highway, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The east–west highway travels a distance of between Highway 8 at Peter's Corners, north of Hamilton and Highway 6 at Clappison's Corners...

 being the first. At this point, the road had become 47.6 km (29.6 mi) in length.

In 1928, the Department of Highways gained control of more roads that led from Foxboro to Marmora, and applied the Highway 14 designation on them, too. This brought Highway 14's length to 83 km (51.6 mi). By 1941, the remainder of the road had been paved, anda bypass was built around Foxboro in 1964. By 1982, the Norris Whitney Bridge was opened, replacing the old Belleville Bay Bridge, and the road was terminated at Foxboro. Its southern extensions would be assumed by fellow north-south road, Highway 62

Highway 62 (Ontario)

King's Highway 62, commonly referred to as Highway 62, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The highway travels south-north from Highway 33 at Bloomfield in Prince Edward County, through Belleville, Madoc and Bancroft, to Maynooth, where it ends at a...

 in 1983. At this point, the road's length was at 36.1 km (22.4 mi).

After the road was truncated at Foxboro, its purpose became to link the generally parallel roads of Highway 2

Highway 2 (Ontario)

King's Highway 2, usually referred to simply as Highway 2 is a provincially maintained highway in Ontario. Once the primary east–west route across the southern end of the province, Highway 2 became mostly redundant in the 1960s following the completion of Highway 401, which more or less...

 and Highway 7

Highway 7 (Ontario)

King's Highway 7, commonly referred to as Highway 7 and historically as the Northern Highway, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario...

 together, to improve access between Kingston

Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...

 and Peterborough

Peterborough, Ontario

Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in southern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 as of the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area has a population of 121,428 as of a 2009 estimate. It presently ranks...

, similar to Highway 15

Highway 15 (Ontario)

Provincial Highway 15, also known as Highway 15, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario.It currently runs between Kingston at the Highway 401 interchange and Highway 7 in Carleton Place...

 is used to link Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 with Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

.

The road was eliminated from the provincial network on April 1, 1997 during a bout of downloading of roads and other functions from the province to counties, towns, and townships. The road briefly gained the designation of "Hastings County Road 14", but the County of Hastings then downloaded the county road (and the responsibilities of its maintenance) to its constituent town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

s and townships

Township (Canada)

The term township generally means the district or area associated with a town. However in some systems no town needs to be involved. The specific use of the term to describe political subdivisions has varied by country, usually to describe a local rural or semi-rural government within the county...

on January 1, 1998. Although the road has such varied names as "Stirling-Rawdon Road 14", and "Marmora & Lake Road 14", it at least has the same numerical designation throughout.