The following year, a southern discontinuous section of the highway was established north from Picton in Prince Edward County.

However, the route enters the Ottawa Valley at a point between Dacre and Eganville; north of there the land use surrounding the highway becomes partially agricultural.

[3][4] Traffic levels along Highway 41, in 2016, were highest near Pembroke, where approximately 5,300 vehicles travelled the road on an average day.

Volumes are lowest through the Mazinaw Country portion of the route, between Bon Echo Provincial Park and Eganville, where less than 2,000, and as few as 1,300 vehicles, travel the highway on an average day.

[5] Two locations along Highway 41 are maintained under a Connecting Link agreement between the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) and the local municipality, in which funding for maintenance is split between the two.

[3] It travels north, immediately ascending Kaladar Hill into a swamp-laden, heavily-forested region of the Canadian Shield, roughly following the Addington Colonization Road.

It passes through the community of Cloyne, then meets the southernmost point of Mazinaw Lake, of which it travels near or along the western shore.

Meandering northeast from there, the highway roughly parallels Hydes Creek to its confluence with the Madawaska River before curving east into Renfrew County.

It crosses the river on a multiple-span concrete rigid arch bridge just prior to entering the community of Griffith.

The route proceeds north, now in the municipality of Bonnechere Valley, and shortly after passing Constant Lake, straightens towards Eganville.

[3][4] An intersection with former Highway 512 marks the entrance to Eganville, as well as the beginning of the Connecting Link Agreement through the town.

After crossing Snake Creek at the northeastern tip of the lake, the highway travels straight north through forests.

Near its northern end, the route zig-zags into the municipality of Laurentian Valley, then curves northeast to intersect Highway 17 on the outskirts of Pembroke.

These forest-bound "roads", built to encourage settlement deeper into the province, were infamously rough wagon trails during dry times, and impassable quagmires throughout the spring and fall.

[20] Construction of an unpaved diversion at Bon Echo, bypassing the original route along what is now Mazinaw Heights Road, was completed in 1943.

[41] A span across the Bay of Quinte, which separates most of Prince Edward County from the Ontario mainland, was a significant undertaking that required funding and manpower that was unavailable through the war years.

[47] Highway 41 was extended to Pembroke on April 11, 1957, when the road north of Eganville and around Lake Dore was assumed by the DHO.

[citation needed] For nearly two decades, the route followed the shoreline of Lake Dore along what is now Point Church Drive.

The unbuilt bypass would have travelled northeast from Lake Dore, passing near Micksburg and ending mid-way between Cobden and Pembroke.

[49][50] Within Pembroke, Highway 41 entered the town as it does today, but curved northwest onto Boundary Road to avoid crossing the Muskrat River.

[53][54] 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.