Two roads have borne the designation of Highway49 within Ontario. The first existed between 1936 and 1972 in York County. The second was designated in 1965, and exists to this day.
1936–1961 Prior to the present Highway49 being assumed by the Department of Highways (DHO), predecessor to the modern
Ministry of Transportation (MTO), a previous route in York County, now the
Regional Municipality of York, was designated as Highway49. The original Highway49 travelled along present-day York Regional Road49 (Nashville Road) between
Highway 50 and
Kleinburg. It was assumed by the DHO on August5, 1936, at a distance of ; it was already paved. The route remained as-is for 25years before being transferred back to York County at some point in 1961.
1965–present The current iteration of Highway49 was created in February 1965, when the southern, discontinuous section of Highway41 north of Picton was renumbered. In preparation for the construction of the Quinte Skyway, the DHO took over of Marysville Road from the intersection of Highway2 and
Highway 502 (Belleville Road) to the soon-to-be completed Highway401 interchange on June26, 1963. Construction of the Quinte Skyway began with the awarding of a contract in November 1964. The DHO had planned to begin work in September 1962, but funding was unavailable. Severe winter weather prevented work from proceeding until the spring of 1965. Construction proceeded simultaneously on realigning the highway south to Picton, bypassing several portions and building a new road north from Roblin Mills in the process. Old sections of the highway are now known as White Chapel Road and Lower High Shore Road. Highway49 remained unchanged for 30years, until the late 1990s. As part of a series of budget cuts initiated by premier
Mike Harris under his
Common Sense Revolution platform in 1995, numerous highways deemed to no longer be of significance to the provincial network were decommissioned and responsibility for the routes transferred to a lower level of government, a process referred to as
downloading. On January1, 1998, the entire route of Highway49 was downloaded to Hastings County and Prince Edward County. Hastings County, which does not maintain roads or bridges, in turn transferred its section to
Tyendinaga Township and the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. The territory was unable to afford maintenance of the highly-travelled route, forcing the MTO to retain ownership of the highway within the territory. == Major intersections ==