King's Highway 14, commonly referred to as Highway 14, was a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. At its peak length, the route connected Highway 33 in Bloomfield, near Picton, with Highway 7 in Marmora. Portions of this longer route are now designated as Highway 62. Prior to being decommissioned, the route connected Highway 62 in Foxboro with Highway 7 in Marmora, via Stirling. What became Highway 14 was designated as part of the original Ontario Highway System in 1920. The route, connecting Picton, Belleville and Foxboro, was numbered in 1925. The route was extended north to Marmora in 1928, and remained generally stable over the next fifty years. In 1982, the Norris Whitney Bridge was opened over the Bay of Quinte. Consequently, the section of Highway 14 south of Foxboro was renumbered as Highway 62. The remainder of the highway was decommissioned on April 1, 1997, the only of the original fifteen 1925 highways to have its number completely removed from the provincial highway system.
Route description
Prior to being decommissioned in the 1990s, Highway 14 connected the towns of Foxboro, Stirling and Marmora, entirely within Hastings County. Today, this route begins in the south at an intersection with Highway 62, the Foxboro Bypass, and proceeds west as the Foxboro–Stirling Road. It travels through a highly populated rural region, passing through the community of Chatterton, where it turns north. The route meanders north and northeastward through a mix of farmland and forests, passing the community of Oak Lake. As it enters the town of Stirling, the road curves west and crosses Rawdon Creek as Front Street East. At North Street, former Highway 14 turns and follows the Stirling–Marmora Road, which carries the route northward into the farmed countryside. After travelling through the community of Sine, the road runs parallel to Hoards Creek. The creek remains on the west side of the route north to its headwaters as the road passes through Harold, Spring Brook and Bonarlaw. From there, the route curves northeast until it enters the town of Marmora, where it is known as Forsyth Street. The former highway ends at Highway 7 ; beyond Highway 7, the roadway becomes County Road 48, which continues north to Cordova Mines.
History
Highway 14 was one of the original 15 provincial highways which formed in the early 1920s. The predecessor of the Ministry of Transportation, the Department of Public Highways in Ontario had assumed control of two roads in Eastern Ontario, the Picton-Belleville road, and the Foxboro-Belleville 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 were paved in 1927. This road was the second provincial highway to be fully paved, with Highway 5 being the first. At this point, the road had become 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. By 1941, the remainder of the road had been paved, and a 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. The section south of there to Bloomfield became part of Highway 62 in 1983. The length of the highway was now. After the road was truncated at Foxboro, its purpose became to link the generally parallel roads of Highway 2 and Highway 7 together, to improve access between Kingston and Peterborough. The road was eliminated from the provincial network on April 1, 1995 amongst the downloading of Highway 33 and the portion of Highway 2 within Hastings County. The road became "Hastings County Road 14", but the County of Hastings then downloaded the county road to its constituent towns and townships on January 1, 1998. Although the road has such varied names as "Stirling-Rawdon Road 14", and "Marmora & Lake Road 14", it has the same numerical designation throughout.
