Highway 62 begins in the community of Bloomfield at a junction with Highway 33, the Loyalist Parkway. From there it winds north through the communities of Huffs Corners, Crofton, Mountain View and Fenwood Gardens before crossing the Norris Whitney Bridge over the Bay of Quinte into Belleville. Immediately south of Mountain View, the highway skirts the CFD Mountain Viewmilitary base. Within urbanized Belleville, Highway 62 serves as the primary north–south route. The highway interchanges with Highway 401 at Exit 543 and exits the urban section of Belleville. From here, the highway continues straight north until its path is interrupted by the Moira River, immediately south of Foxboro, which the highway bypasses to the west. The former route of the highway through the town is now known as Ashley Street. The highway continues along the bypass of Foxboro, merging back onto the Madoc Colonization Road at Halloway. It follows this colonization road north to Highway 7 in Madoc, passing through a mixture of farmland and shrubbery; the occasional forest interrupts the shorter vegetation, as well as the community of Crookston. Immediately. North of Madoc, the highway follows the Hastings Colonization Road.
History
Highway 62 was first assumed by the Department of Highways in 1937. On April 1 of that year, the DHO merged with the Department of Northern Development. Following the merger, many new highways through central and northern Ontario were designated. One of these was the Madoc–Pembroke Road, which became Highway 62 on August 11, 1937. Originally, the route followed the Hastings Colonization Road, which was quickly determined to be too rough to upgrade. A new alignment, apparently named the Faulkner Highway, was constructed to the east between Millhaven and L'Amable in the late 1930s. This bypass was opened to traffic on March 22, 1939. Subsequently, the bypassed portion of the highway was decommissioned on April 11. At the time of its assumption, Highway 62 was split into two segments. The first section travelled from Madoc to Barry's Bay, the second from Pembroke to the community of Bonnechere, on the northwestern shore of Round Lake. It was originally planned to unite these segments by building a new highway mostly following the route of Paugh Lake Road. This section was never built, and so Highway 62 remained separated for a quarter century. The Norris Whitney Bridge over the Bay of Quinte was opened in December 1982, replacing the original 1891 swing bridge. Portions of the original causeway can still be seen alongside the current structure. Discussions are underway to build a second bridge, widening the highway from two to four lanes. Portions of Highway 62 were transferred to local jurisdictions in 1997 and 1998. On April 1, 1997, the section from the Laurentian Valley – Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards boundary east to Highway 17 was transferred to Renfrew County. On January 1, 1998, the section northeast of Highway 127 in Maynooth was transferred to Hastings and Renfrew counties. The concurrency with Highway 60 was discontinued as a result of this transfer. Hastings County subsequently transferred its portion of the road to the townships of Monteagle and Bangor, Wicklow and McClure on April 15, 1998.
