Garden River First Nation names its gently-used highway

Garden River got itself a gently-used highway today and its first order of business is a spiffy new sign identifying it.

Crews are busy putting the finishing touches on the new intersection of Highway 17 and Trunk Road at the east end of the new Highway 17 around Echo Bay and Garden River

Meanwhile, another crew from Garden River is also busy.

SooToday.com managed to snap this photo at about 11:10 a.m. today as a few community members saw the finishing touches on one of the signs on their new highway.

A 1909 Order in Council between the Ontario Government and Garden River First Nation stipulates that the existing Highway 17 reverts to Garden River territory when an alternate route is constructed.

Recently the Ministry of Transportation Ontario announced that section of what, as of today, will become the old Highway 17 will be renamed Highway 638 and that a sign distinguishing it as such would be placed at the new Trunk Road intersection.

At the time SooToday.com snapped the photo above, the sign at the new intersection was still covered.