Manitoba Highway 77

Provincial Trunk Highway 77 is a provincial highway in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It runs from the Saskatchewan boundary near Westgate to PTH 10 near Baden. It was designated in 1987, replacing PR 277.

Route description

PTH 77 begins in Division No. 19 at the Saskatchewan border, with the road continuing west across the Armit River towards Armit and Hudson Bay as Saskatchewan Highway 3. Immediately bypassing Westgate, the highway heads east through rural woodlands for several kilometers, running along the northern border of the Porcupine Hills and Porcupine Provincial Forest. After passing National Mills and crossing several creeks, it travels through the town of Barrows to have an intersection with Red Deer Lake Road, which provides access to the community of Red Deer Lake and the lake of the same name. PTH 77 winds its way southeast through remote woodlands, traveling through Powell and Baden as well as crossing the Rice River, before entering the Rural Municipality of Mountain and coming to an end at an intersection with PTH 10 just north of Mafeking along the banks of the Steeprock River.
The entire length of Manitoba Highway 77 is a rural, paved, two-lane highway.

History

What is now PTH 77 began in 1961 as an unnamed gravel road running from PTH 10 and extending as far west as the community of Powell along the northern boundary of the Porcupine Provincial Forest, switching to dirt at Baden. By 1963, it had been improved to a two-lane gravel road in its entirety, as well as being extended further west past the hamlet of Westgate to the Saskatchewan border, where it continued towards Armit as the newly opened Saskatchewan Highway 3. The highway was officially designated as Provincial Road 277 in 1966, as well as gaining a short spur to the community of Red Deer Lake. Becoming fully paved by 1983, the highway was officially re-designated as PTH 77 in 1987, with the route changing very little since then.