Each generally followed the original route of Highway 17 through the town or city that it served, and was subsequently given the Highway 17B designation when a newer bypass route was constructed to either reduce traffic pressure on the local street network, or provide a better thoroughfare that avoided urban areas altogether.

Four of the five original 17B routes have been decommissioned by the Ministry of Transportation (MTO), and are now maintained only by their local municipalities.

Negotiations for the construction of a four-lane bypass of Echo Bay began in the mid-1970s, though ultimately it would take until 1994 for the province to reach an agreement for land transfers with the Garden River First Nation.

The signage is in evidence until the intersection of Highway 638 at Echo Bay, after which the route no longer has any official identification.

However, the MTO Annual Average Daily Traffic Logs include the Garden River Highway 17B, as do some road maps.

[citation needed] The following table lists the major junctions along the Sault St. Marie route of Highway 17B.

The Highway 17B designation travelled along McIntyre and Oak between Algonquin Avenue and Fisher Street, and Fisher Street constituted the remainder of the easterly route, rejoining Highway 17 near Northgate Square shopping mall.

The section within North Bay was maintained under a Connecting Link agreement until November 1998, after which it was repealed.

This left only the short 900 m (0.56 mi) section outside the western city limits under provincial maintenance.

[1] The following table lists the major junctions along the North Bay route of Highway 17B.

[14][15] Highway 17B reappears in the 1977 edition of the Ontario Road Map, following Richmond Street from its interchange with the Queensway.

Marie consisted of two interconnected routes that connected Highway 17 with the International Bridge, via a one-way pairing through downtown Sault Ste.

Beginning at the foot of the International Bridge, the route split into a one-way pairing at Huron Street.

At the Current River, Cumberland Street became Hodder Avenue, which continued north to the Thunder Bay Expressway.