Ontario Highway 599

Ontario provincial highway
There are almost no services along Highway 599, including fuel and lodging, outside of Ignace and Pickle Lake. The route is a two laned paved highway throughout its length. Beginning at Highway 17 in Ignace, Highway 599 proceeds northeast along the eastern edge of the town. It turns north and crosses the Canadian Pacific Railway. The route turns east and curves around Sandbar Lake, providing access to Sandbar Lake Provincial Park as it curves northeast into the wilderness. Highway 599 meanders around numerous lakes and through uninhabited forests, not encountering any habitation for nearly It then enters the small community of Silver Dollar, where Highway 642 branches west to Sioux Lookout. The route provides access to the Mishkeegogamang First Nation and the community of New Osnaburgh on the lake, before continuing into forest for the final leg of its journey to Pickle Lake. It ends at Cohen Avenue in Central Patricia, where it continues as the Northern Ontario Resource Trail (NORT Road), which used to be a part of Highway 599, and then Highway 808. The Resource Trail is paved for the first of its length, and is gravel for the remainder. It links up with winter roads that travel to isolated communities even farther north, terminating at the northern shore of Windigo Lake.

Highway 599 was initially constructed by the Department of Mines and Forestry in the early 1950s, opening from Savant Lake to Pickle Lake in 1955. In early 1956, that road was assumed by the Department of Highways and incorporated as part of the new secondary highway network, with the designation of Highway 599. Unlike most other secondary highways, it was not possible to access the new highway by car from the rest of the province. In 1958, construction began to connect the route with Highway 17 near Ignace, working south from Savant Lake. By 1963, Highway 599 was opened to the community of Valora, where it connected with the Ignace–Valora Road. On February 15, the province signed an "industrial road agreement", which opened the Ignace–Valora Road to the general public, connecting Highway 599 with the rest of the province. Despite this, work continued on a paved road to bypass the winding industrial road. In 1963 construction began from the Highway 17 end. The road was completed in the middle by 1966. In 2017, the provincial government of Ontario pledged support for the construction of a road that would extend Highway 599 to connect Nibinamik, Webequie and the Northern Ontario Ring of Fire to the provincial road network.