studies are underway on the extension of highway 417 through the ottawa valley region from its current terminus at arnprior to petawawa. from arnprior to haley station and from meath to petawawa, the proposed freeway route largely follows the existing alignment — in these areas, the current highway route largely avoids existing communities, and thus a second set of lanes can be easily added alongside the existing route. within the township of whitewater region, however, a new alignment is planned several kilometres east of the existing road in order to bypass communities such as cobden.