Adventure seekers–take the 502

The trip’s rarely dull for motorists heading up Highway 502.
The highway, which runs from Highway 11 north to Dryden, is rarely driven without some sort of excitement along the way.
Going north, the first few kilometres of the highway are deceiving. With new pavement and a picnic area, it looks as good as any in Northwestern Ontario–maybe better.
But a few kilometers later, the new pavement disappears and the quirky 502 begins to curve so much it is almost at right angles–and the excitement is just beginning.
The route has been the legend of stories for years as motorists narrowly avoided serious mishaps or ended up rescuing others along the winding highway.
Most of the it still remains out of cell phone range and with almost no inhabitants or businesses along the way, drivers are pretty much on their own once they head out.
Relatively untouched, the highway offers many scenic views of wetlands, open water, and forested valleys. But to spend too much time checking out the view can prove to be dangerous.
“It’s an adventure. I mean, there’s so many bumps, potholes, and ruts and stuff like that it can be pretty a pretty rough ride and it’s been like that for years,” noted CFOB news director Mike Freeman, who often travels the highway during the winter months as a Muskie hockey commentator.
“I don’t know why it hasn’t been fixed but I’ve heard some horror stories, that’s for sure,” he added.
Although it’s been patched up recently, the pavement often is riddled with deep potholes which seem to pop up after every rainfall. In fact, going north on a partly cloudy afternoon, there appeared to be less holes than there are after a heavy rain later that evening.
Spring potholes were so deep vehicles had to go around some of them or risk getting stuck.
“We were heading up for a soccer game and there was a pothole on the right-hand side and it had to be three feet wide and I don’t know how deep,” recalled Fort Frances resident Diane Noonan.
“Somebody had taken a log out of the bush and had put it into the hole, end first, and tied a pink bag onto it,” she noted. “If you weren’t paying attention, you would have hit the log or fallen in the hole.”
Someone called in the pothole and by the time Noonan returned, it had been filled and patched.
“That same weekend, [another family] hit a deer and on the way home, a bear jumped in front of us and we had to slam on the breaks,” she added.
With almost no shoulders along most of the highway, vehicles pulled off to the side can be a harrowing surprise for others rounding a curve.
Last weekend, two SUVs pulling boat trailers were damaged after they rounded a curve and suddenly came up behind a turning car.
“We just rounded and it was there,” noted the Wisconsin driver. “The roads are greasy, just greasy.”
One trailer lost its boat and was severely damaged while the other had to be repaired on the spot. Six hours later, the two finally were on their way again.
A little further up the road, a transport truck driver–pulled over to the side–surveyed his load of lumber which seemed to be hanging off the side. After tightening the belts holding the load as much as possible, the driver said he was hoping for the best and continued along the highway.
Closer to Dryden, after rounding a bend, a man stood in the middle of the road signalling traffic around a chartered bus while the rest of the passengers stood along the road’s side.
“The air bag went off,” he said. “I just want to make sure none of the other passengers get hit.”
About three hours later, the bus was seen heading into Dryden.
There were signs of other mishaps along 502. A dead moose lies–covered with flies–just off the road about 500 m past a “Caution moose” sign.
“From a statistics basis, we haven’t noticed Highway 502 to have more accidents except to say that from a moose experience and number of wildlife sightings,” said Fort Frances OPP S/Sgt. Hugh Dennis.
“Highway 502 is known for the number of moose and we urge people to be cautious.”
In mid-May, a tanker-truck driver was killed when his truck, carrying 22,000 liters of tall oil, crashed along Highway 502 at Crowrock.
“Certainly from an incident perspective, that Crowrock inlet corner is an area that has a number of big spills,” noted S/Sgt. Dennis. “Of course, every time there is an incident on it, the highway gets blocked. That’s why a lot of stories might come out of it.
“It affects a lot of people.”
Shredded tires dot the shoulders of the highway and as if it was destined to be ominous, Grave Road and Uphill Road are among the few side roads along the way.
Former Northern Development and Mines minister Tim Hudak drove the highway and commented on it last year. He since has been shuffled to a new portfolio but some upgrades are underway.
Over the course of two summers (2000 and 2001), just under 40 km of the highway have been under construction.
“We have a contract that is underway and it’s 38-km in length and what we are essentially doing is resurfacing,” said Dan Schutte, the MTO’s area construction engineer.
The stretch under renovation is about 66 km north of the junction with Highway 11 and about an hour south of Dryden, Schutte noted.
“I would expect that it would be done by the end of this summer,” he said.