PTH 17 is signed as a north-south route from PR 325 to PTH 7 at Teulon and an east-west route from PTH 7 to PTH 9. The majority of the route is paved, with a gravel section between PTH 8 and PTH 9. The speed limit is 100 km/h (62 mph) except through urban areas.
The route near Narcisse can be very dangerous as thousands of snakes cross PTH 17 to get to/from the Narcisse Snake Dens. As snakes are run over by vehicles, the road becomes very slippery. A series of 'garter-snake fences' were built in this area to protect both the snakes and vehicle traffic.[citation needed]
Route description
PTH 17 begins in the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews at an intersection with PTH 9 a few kilometers south of Winnipeg Beach, with the road heading due west as a gravel road. 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) later, it has an intersection with PTH 8, where the highway becomes paved, crossing into the Rural Municipality of Rockwood after a few kilometers of rural farmland. PTH 17 then travels straight through the town of Teulon, where it has an intersection with PTH 7, before curving northwest and winding its way through woodlands for the next several kilometers, where it passes by Norris Lake Provincial Park, before entering the Rural Municipality of Armstrong.[2]
At the intersection with PTH 7 in Teulon, PTH 17 switches signed cardinal directions from east-west to north-south.
PTH 17 begins a concurrency (overlap) with PR 229 as it travels through Inwood, where it makes a sharp turn to the north at a junction with PR 416. PR 229 splits off shortly thereafter and PTH 17 winds its way north through a mix of farmland and wooded areas for the next several kilometers, passing through Narcisse, where it crosses a former railroad line as well as having intersections with Road 114N (which leads to the site of Bender Hamlet) and PR 231. The highway passes by the Narcisse Snake Dens and the community of Chatfield, where it has an intersection with PR 419, before crossing into the Rural Municipality of Fisher. PTH 17 has many switchbacks along its route in the Rural Municipality of Armstrong.[3]
PTH 17 almost immediately travels through Poplarfield, where it crosses PTH 68, as it heads due north through farmland to have intersections with Road 134N, which provides accessible to Broad Valley, and PR 329. The highway travels along the eastern side of Fisher Branch, where it junctions with PR 233 and crosses a creek, before continuing north to become concurrent with PR 325. PTH 17 / PR 325 make a sharp curve to the east to pass through Hodgson and cross Bottle Creek before coming to an intersection with PR 224 at the southern edge of the Peguis First Nation, where PTH 17 ends and the road continues east as PR 325.
The entire length of PTH 17 is a rural, two-lane highway.[4][5]
Prior to 1964, PTH 17 was the designation of the route connecting PTH 3 near Crystal City to the US border. This highway is now the southernmost section of PTH 34.[6]
Originally, the section north of PR 231 (along with the section of PR 231 from there to PTH 7) was the northern configuration of PTH 7 between 1956 and 1966[7] before it was reconfigured to its current route. After PTH 7 was reconfigured to Arborg, the route was redesignated as PTH 16. The section south of what is now PR 231 was designated as PR 228. The route number was eliminated in 1979 when the Manitoba portion of the Yellowhead Highway was changed from PTH 4 to PTH 16 so that the route maintained one number throughout the four western provinces. PTH 16 was eliminated and it became an extension of PR 228 and PR 231.[8]
PTH 17 was designated in 1983, replacing part of PR 228, but its south end was at PTH 7. In 1987, PTH 17 was extended east to PTH 8, replacing the remainder of PR 228. It extended east to its current end in 1989. This final extension is a gravel road.
