Secondary Highway 658, commonly referred to as Highway 658, is 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....

. The highway extends 29 kilometres (18 mi) between the city of Kenora and the community of Redditt

Redditt, Ontario

Redditt is an unincorporated community in Unorganized Kenora District in northwestern Ontario, Canada. It is on the MacFarlane River, and located at the northern terminus of Ontario Highway 658, north of Kenora...

. For a decade, Highway 658 was numbered as Highway 666, leading to numerous sign thefts and a petition by members of a church on the route. This petition eventually led to the route being renumbered in late-1985.

Route description

Highway 658 travels through communities lying north of Highway 17, the Trans-Canada Highway

Trans-Canada Highway

The Trans-Canada Highway is a federal-provincial highway system that joins the ten provinces of Canada. It is, along with the Trans-Siberian Highway and Australia's Highway 1, one of the world's longest national highways, with the main route spanning 8,030 km...

. It is mostly rural, being surrounded by ranches and equipment sheds as well as the boreal forest and rock outcroppings of the Canadian Shield

Canadian Shield

The Canadian Shield, also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier Canadien , is a vast geological shield covered by a thin layer of soil that forms the nucleus of the North American or Laurentia craton. It is an area mostly composed of igneous rock which relates to its long volcanic history...

. Though it is signed as beginning at the Kenora Bypass (Highway 17A), the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) traffic counts indicate that the section through Kenora is maintained as a connecting link

Connecting Link

The Connecting Link program is a provincial subsidy provided to municipalities to assist with road construction, maintenance and repairs in the Canadian province of Ontario. Roads which are designated as connecting links form the portions of provincial highways through built-up communities which...

. In the town of Redditt, the highway ends at a train station served by VIA Rail

VIA Rail

Via Rail Canada is an independent crown corporation offering intercity passenger rail services in Canada. It is headquartered near Montreal Central Station at 3 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec....

.

History

Highway 658 was originally designated on July 21, 1966, travelling north from Highway 17, west of Whitefish. The route was 19.3 kilometres (12 mi) long, passing west through Worthington and turning north to near Fairbank Provincial Park.
This route and most other secondary highways in the area were transferred to the Regional Municipality of Sudbury when it was established on January 1, 1973.

The current iteration of Highway 658 was originally designated as Highway 128, a route which came into existence on January 18, 1956. In 1975, the route was one of several King's Highways redesignated as Secondary Highways; it was given the number 666. Local citizen and two churches located along the route began to petition the MTO in 1982, requesting the number be changed due to concerns with its connotation as the "number of the beast

Number of the Beast

The Number of the Beast is a term in the Book of Revelation, of the New Testament, that is associated with the first Beast of Revelation chapter 13, the Beast of the sea. In most manuscripts of the New Testament and in English translations of the Bible, the number of the Beast is...

". The route number was officially changed to 658 on November 1, 1985, though signs indicating "Formerly Highway 666" were attached to reassurance marker

Reassurance marker

A reassurance marker or road identification sign is a road sign that repeats the name or number of the current route. Typically posted at intervals alongside a numbered highway, the signs are intended to reassure drivers that they are traveling on the desired road .- North America :In the United...

s along the highway.

Major intersections

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 658. The entirety of the highway is located within Kenora District.

Location	km	Destinations	Notes
Kenora	0.0		Beginning of connecting link Connecting Link The Connecting Link program is a provincial subsidy provided to municipalities to assist with road construction, maintenance and repairs in the Canadian province of Ontario. Roads which are designated as connecting links form the portions of provincial highways through built-up communities which...  agreement
	3.8		End of connecting link agreement
	8.0	Peterson Road
	16.3
Redditt	29.4	Redditt Canadian National Railway Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad".... station