Highways.....Under The Waves

[ghYHZ]

When the St. Lawrence Seaway was constructed in the late 1950s......the inundation that occurred on July 1, 1958 flooded large areas of the 40 mile section of the river between Cornwall and Iroquois, Ontario and also near Massena, New York......creating Lake St. Lawrence.

Highway 2 in Ontario was now mostly under water and the CNR mainline tracks were relocated a couple of miles inland to run parallel to Highway 401. 







Ten villages in Ontario, the "Lost Villages"  were now underwater and the new planned communities of Long Sault, Ingleside and Iroquois created for the displaced residents. There's a good map here showing the towns, old and new highway and RR alignments:


http://www.lostvillages.ca/en/html/map_of_villages.html

http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/features/lostvillages/index.html


Bing Maps aerial photography is excellent and you can still see the old highway and railway alignments just below the water surface: Starting at the Long Sault Parkway, the original ON Highway 2 goes underwater......

http://binged.it/yX6qTF


......now pan west to follow along the old highway, still visible just south of a series of islands that were high points of land now linked by the Long Sault Parkway.

The alignment disappears in deeper water then reappears near the old village of Farran's Point. You can still see the street-grid below the water surface and just to the north.....the old CNR mainline. Pan to the west along the abandoned railway and the relocated Highway 2 comes onto the old RR alignment to follow the straight right-of-way past Upper Canada Village. A lot of the old historic buildings from the flooded villages were relocated here in a Heritage Park.


http://binged.it/xf3wFa


The old RR is again used by Highway 2 through Morrisburg. Old Highway 2 is now Lakeshore Drive. The north-south streets that cross it are now barricaded at the high water mark.


http://binged.it/Au8oAl


Just before reaching Iroquois.......Grisdale Blvd which was old Highway 2 crosses over a high point of land, rising from the water on each side......Here's a couple of shots:


http://binged.it/ylnSsC







And for the "Canal-Geek" ........long sections of the old abandoned canal & locks are still there for exploring: 

[AsphaltPlanet]

^ Interesting post.

Some of Highway 17 in Ontario and Quebec was likewise flooded as part of the Carillon Canal and Hydro Dam as well.





Pics from http://www.thekingshighway.ca/PHOTOS/Hwy17photos3.htm

[cu2010]

The same happened to NY37 when Lake St. Lawrence was created...there are abandoned sections now underwater. In Coles Creek State Park just east of Waddington, where a small section of old 37 is now used as the main road in the park, there is one section that has been left untouched (past an off-limits to vehicles area, though nobody seems to care if you walk down it), complete with remnants of white paint!  As the roadway begins to dip into the river, it is heavily broken...several large chunks have fallen down altogether....but it's still there.

[webfil]

Nice photos!

Route 3 (now 132) in Sainte-Catherine, QC has also been cut by floodings. It used to run on Boulevard Marie-Victorin (then Route La Tortue) prior to the digging of the seaway.

Before : http://services.banq.qc.ca/sdx/cep/document.xsp?&id=0002670182
After : http://services.banq.qc.ca/sdx/cep/document.xsp?&id=0002671527