Provincial Trunk Highway 42 (PTH 42) is a short provincial highway in the southwest region of the Canadian province of Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

. It runs from PTH 16 in the town of Shoal Lake

Shoal Lake, Manitoba

-Shoal Lake, Ontario:At the eastern border of the province with Ontario, a portion of Shoal Lake and the surrounding watershed lies within Manitoba.-Shoal Lake, Manitoba:...

 to PTH 41

Manitoba Highway 41

Provincial Trunk Highway 41 is a short provincial highway in the far southwest region of the Canadian province of Manitoba. It runs from PTH 1 and PR 542 in the village of Kirkella to PTH 16 and PTH 83 just south of Binscarth....

 just east of the French speaking village of St. Lazare

St. Lazare, Manitoba

St. Lazare is a small English and French-speaking village in western Manitoba, Canada. It is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Ellice. The village showed a population of 265 inhabitants in both the 2006 census and the 2001 census.-Radio:...

.

PTH 42 provides a direct east-west connection through Birtle

Birtle, Manitoba

Birtle is a small town of 690 people , located on the prairies of western Manitoba, Canada at the junction of Highways 83 and 42.-History:...

 from PTH 16

Yellowhead Highway

The Yellowhead Highway is a major east-west highway connecting the four western Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Although part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, the highway should not be confused with the more southerly, originally-designated...

. As a result, the stretch between Birtle and Shoal Lake is heavily used by trucks as a direct access. The speed limit

Speed limit

Road speed limits are used in most countries to regulate the speed of road vehicles. Speed limits may define maximum , minimum or no speed limit and are normally indicated using a traffic sign...

 is 100 km/h (60 mph) east of Birtle and 90 km/h (55 mph) between PTH 83 and St. Lazare.

Route History

The section of PTH 42 between Shoal Lake and Birtle was originally part of PTH 16, which was then known as PTH 4. When the current section of PTH 16 was constructed and opened in the early 1960s, the highway was designated as PTH 41A before being renumbered to PTH 42 in 1970.