
A Highway 401 marker shield displaying
the M-C Freeway designation.
Few of the M-C shields still exist, as they are no longer
posted by the province.
The King's Highway 401 (also
known as the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway) is a
highway that extends across Southern Ontario, Canada
. It
is the longest
400-Series
Highway in Ontario, and one of the widest and busiest highways
in the world.
In fact, the segment of Highway 401 passing
through Toronto
has the
distinction of being North America's busiest freeway.
Together
with Quebec Autoroute
20
, it is the road transportation backbone of the
Quebec City-Windsor
Corridor, along which over half of Canada's population
resides. Colloquially, the road is known simply as the 401,
spoken as "four-oh-one."
In 1965,
Lieutenant
Governor of Ontario William Earl
Rowe issued an
Order-in-Council, on the advice of
then-
Premier John Robarts, designating Highway 401 the
Macdonald-Cartier Freeway, to honour both Sir
John A. Macdonald and Sir
George-Étienne Cartier, two of
the
Province of Canada's
Fathers of Confederation, and in
recognition of Canada's upcoming
centennial celebrations in 1967. This
name is found on maps and official documents, but seldom used in
conversation or on modern
road
signs.
On August
24, 2007, the stretch of highway between Toronto
(from
Highway 404/Don Valley Parkway) and Trenton
(from Glen
Miller Road) was given the additional name Highway of
Heroes, in honour of Canadian
Forces personnel killed during the War in
Afghanistan.
Overview

Highway 401 was completed in
1968
Highway
401 begins at Highway 3,
13 km from the Detroit River on
the outskirts of Windsor
(not at the
Michigan
border as
some mistakenly assume, though the exits on the freeway are listed
as distances from the Ambassador Bridge
) and ends at the Quebec
border,
818 km away. There are 18
rest
areas or service centres located along the route, allowing
motorists to access services without leaving the highway. A plaque
was erected at the Mallorytown oasis, located on the last section
of the freeway to be completed, stating that the 401 was the
longest non-toll freeway under a single highway authority in North
America. (Today the section of
Interstate 10 in Texas holds this
record.)
Major
freeway junctions are located at these roads and highways: 402, Highbury Avenue (London
), 403, 8, 6,
407, 410, 427, 400, Allen
Road (Toronto
), 404 and Don Valley Parkway (Toronto), 35 and 115, 416. Quebec
Autoroute
20
continues the highway at its eastern
end.
Highway 401 currently has no direct connections with U.S.
Interstate highways, but Interstates 75, 94, 96 and
375 in Detroit,
Michigan
, and Interstate 81 in
New York
State
are each a short distance away, via Highways 3, the former 3B, and 137, leading to the Ambassador
Bridge
, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel
, and the Thousand Islands Bridge
, respectively. Highway 402 also links Highway 401 to
I-69/I-94
via the Bluewater
Bridge
in Sarnia, Ontario
. An extension to a potential border crossing with Michigan
in the western portion of Windsor may eventually
connect to a spur Interstate in Detroit,
Michigan
, but no routing on the extension has been
determined yet.
Transportation corridor
The 401 is one of the world's busiest highways, with an estimated
Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) of over 500,000 in 2006,
between the
Weston Road and
Highway 400 interchanges in Toronto.
Due to its triple use as the main trade, commuting and recreational
corridor in Ontario, 24-hour traffic volumes can exceed the 500,000
level on some days.
The just-in-time inventory systems of
the highly integrated auto industry in
Michigan
and Ontario have made the highway the busiest
truck route in the world.
Highway
401 also includes the world's busiest multi-structure bridge at
Hogg's
Hollow
in Toronto (four structures for the highway's four
roadway beds). The first of these structures served as a
bypass for
Highway 11, and was
built in 1929, with the three others being built more recently
(1960s).
The 401 is a strategically important highway in Canada, as it
connects the populous Southern Ontario region with Quebec and
Michigan, while also connecting to most other major highways in the
province.
The 401 also acts as a 'short cut' between
Detroit
and Buffalo, New York
(via Queen Elizabeth
Way and Highway 403), and
is used by many American motorists for this reason.
The
highway also serves as the principal connection to Montreal
and points east, including New England
, becoming Autoroute 20
at the Quebec border. The border crossing
at Windsor and Detroit
is the busiest trade crossing in the world, and
although the 401 itself does not physically extend the last few
kilometres into Detroit, it is the only route from Toronto to
Windsor and on to Interstate 75 (aside
from the Blue Water
Bridge
in Sarnia
via Highway 402 and I-69/I-94). A future expansion of the
Windsor-Detroit border crossing, which will include a freeway
bypass of the existing Highway 3, may result in Highway 401 having
a direct freeway link to the border. The route and type of roadway
built is causing much debate in the Windsor area, with the city
opting for a partially covered roadway with parks on top. However,
the provincial and federal governments of Canada are seemingly
opting for a cheaper less-effective solution, likely to be a simple
at-grade highway extending to the new crossing. Some 40% of
Canada-U.S. trade travels the highway, representing one-third of
Canada's foreign trade, and 4% of all U.S. foreign trade. However,
it is not part of the
Trans-Canada
Highway.
Collector-express sections
Today the stretch of Highway 401 that passes through the
Greater Toronto Area ranges from 6 to
18 lanes, which makes it the world's widest highway.
Islington Avenue to Brock Road

Highway 401 west of the Don Valley
Parkway/Highway 404 junction, showing the wide 14-lane
cross-section
The
section that now runs through Toronto
was a rural
roadway that was entirely outside of the Toronto city limits when
first opened, and was originally referred to as the Toronto
Bypass. The new freeway attracted development all
along its length. As the city's
suburbs grew,
it quickly became an urban commuter road, rather than a
long-distance bypass route as was originally planned, leading to
extensive traffic jams.
This was
a problem/opportunity solved and built upon to some extent by
implementing separate express and collector lanes,
similar to the express/local set-up of the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago
. Transfers, such as The
Basketweave
allow
traffic to move from the express to collector lanes and vice
versa.
Though Highway 401's collectors are intended more for urban
commuters, they enjoy equal access to intersecting freeways as the
express lanes do, such as at the junctions with Highway 404 and
somewhat with Highway 400, so their use is not restricted to local
traffic. The configuration also facilitates road maintenance, as
the MTO can close off either the express or collector lanes for
night repairs or upgrades. By contrast, the collector-express
system on
Highway 427
separates out two streams of traffic; the express lanes connect the
QEW/Gardiner with 401 and exclusively lead to freeway-to-freeway
ramps, while the collector lanes link up the arterials Highway 27
and Brown's Line and have interchanges with local traffic.
By 1967 Highway 401 was widened from four lanes to 12 or more
through Toronto from
Islington
Avenue to
Warden Avenue. In the
early 1970s the collector express lanes were extended to Neilson
Road and eastward to Brock Road by 1997.
The main
collector-express setup
with a minimum 12-lane cross-section currently stretches from
Islington Avenue to Brock Road.
Highway
409, which branches off from Highway 401 just west of Islington
to Toronto Pearson International
Airport
, has been unsuccessful in diverting traffic
volumes; the 10-lane segment between Islington and Highway 427 is highly congested as a
result. The existing 401-427 interchange is considered one
of the worst bottlenecks since it only allows eight lanes of
traffic (four in each direction) to pass through the interchange.
It initially only allowed six lanes of through traffic until a
widening project was completed in 2005; a major reconstruction of
the junction is needed to meet current demands, estimated at five
to six lanes.
An alternative plan to the collector-express setup was to construct
a bypass of Highway 401. This project was revived in 1987 and
opened in 1997 as the toll road
Highway 407 ETR to parallel Highway
401 in the
Greater Toronto
Area.
Signage
In order to make sure drivers are not confused by signs appearing
in other lanes, colours have been assigned to both Collector and
Express Lanes. Collector lanes (handling traffic merging from and
to exits) are blue while Express Lane signs are green. Due to the
urban nature of the road, all signs are mounted overhead on
gantries. The green signs list up to three upcoming exits (for
example: Leslie St, Bayview Ave, Yonge St, 4 km). However, the
mileages indicated on the signs do not indicate the actual distance
to the next exit, they only indicate the distance to the next
transfer to the collectors. Once in the collector lanes, the blue
signs direct and inform drivers of the distance until the exit ramp
(for example: Leslie Street, 1 km).
Highway 403/410 to Highway 427
Highway
401 has a separate collector-express system in Mississauga
between the junctions with Highways 403/410 and Highway 427. This was completed in
1986, concurrent with the expansion of the 401-403 interchange and
the addition of two express flyover ramps and includes an eastbound
collector-express transfer
known as the
"Tunnel." At 18 lanes wide this is the widest section of
Highway 401, although at the present only nine lanes are designated
for 401 through traffic (as express lanes) while the collector
lanes serve as direct connections or ramp extensions from 403/410
to 427.
The existing 401/427 interchange remains a bottleneck to possible
eastward expansion of this configuration that would link it up with
the Islington-Brock collector-express system. Another choke point
is at the 403/410 interchange since the 401 narrows down to eight
lanes west of that junction. However, that junction has been
designed with westward expansion of the collector-express system in
mind; several prerequisite projects to accommodate widening from
403/410 to
Mississauga Road were
underway in the late 1990s, including a new interchange at
Mavis Road and the reconstruction of the
Mississauga Road and Derry Road overpasses.
History
The need
for a four-lane bypass of Highway
2 in the Oshawa
area was
growing in the early 1930s, as the simple two-lane road could no
longer handle the growing levels of traffic. The idea for a
roadway similar to Middle Road
in Peel County
was led by Thomas
McQuesten, then head of the Department of
Highways.
Construction began on two portions of
Highway 401 before the beginning of the Second World War: the new Kingston Road from Highland
Creek
to Oshawa
(the modern
day former
Highway 2A
), which bypassed the Kingston Road (Highway 2), and the scenic
highway (now the Thousand Islands Parkway) from
Gananoque
to Brockville
, also bypassing a portion of Highway 2.
The
former was built because of heavy traffic between Toronto and
Oshawa, and the latter to connect with the Thousand
Islands Bridge
, opened in 1938. In late 1941 or early 1942,
the scenic highway was opened to local traffic as a
gravel road, and numbered
Highway
2S, for "Highway 2 Scenic" (as opposed to the popular, but
incorrect, idea of "Highway 2 South", since the road does lie fully
south of Highway 2). Paving of the south side, the future eastbound
lanes, was completed several years later.
Construction of the first segment, from Highland Creek to Oshawa,
was initiated in 1938. Much of the grading and a number of
structures were completed before the Second World War, at which
time most of the construction work was suspended. This section was
finally completed and opened to traffic in 1947.
During the Second World War, the provincial government undertook a
number of surveys and studies to determine the most desirable route
for the new limited-access highway.
The highway was redesignated "Highway 401" in 1952.
The last segment,
between Gananoque
and Brockville
, was completed in 1968 to bypass what is now the
Thousand Islands Parkway (which included at-grade intersections and
private entrances). The last at-grade intersection on the
present alignment was at Joyceville Road, east of Kingston, which
was converted to an interchange with the final 1968
construction.
Much of
the current routing of Highway 401 across Toronto
was built in
1954 (when the entire area was north of the city
) as the "Toronto By-Pass". The road ended
temporarily at the
Weston Road
interchange (now Exit 357), while a bridge across the
Humber River was constructed for the
road to be extended westwards. This bridge was never used, as just
a few months later,
Hurricane Hazel
damaged it so badly that it had to be
dynamited and completely rebuilt. This delayed
Highway 401's completion in the Toronto area for nearly a
year.
Through much of the 1950s, motorists were annoyed with the
perceived snail's pace of constructing the freeway, and had
pressured the provincial government to speed up the completion of
Highway 401, with much of the public supporting turning Highway 401
into a tolled road to accelerate construction. To do this, the
provincial government had assigned the "Select Committee on Toll
Roads and Highway Financing" in 1955 to consider any benefits or
disadvantages from this. The resulting report from the committee
was in by 1956, and the result was that tolling the roadway would
be extremely detrimental. Tolls would appear on the 400-series
network, if only temporarily.
When the St.
Lawrence Seaway was built in the late 1950s, drivers on the
Queen Elizabeth Way paid tolls
on the newly-built Garden City
and Burlington
Bay skyways until 1973, as a way to recover the costs of
construction and upgrades.
During
the late 1950s, the road was extended from Windsor
to London
as an
at-grade Super 2, before being twinned in
the 1960s (the segment from Windsor to Tilbury was completed as a
four-lane freeway), with the eastbound carriageway being built
first. This is still evident today, as many bridges over
creeks and streams in the area have different
ages and appearances. The section from Windsor to Tilbury was among
the original sections built, from 1952-1958, with the Tilbury
Bypass (from Exit 56 to Exit 63) being constructed in 1961, with
the Tilbury-London section opening in 1963.
In 1957, the
London-Woodstock
section opened, as a four-lane divided freeway from
Highway 4's interchange (just
west of London), to Highway 2's
interchange (just east of Woodstock). The road would later
be extended to Kitchener
in 1961, where it was linked to the
Kitchener-Toronto-Oshawa section.

Highway 401 at Kingston
In 1964,
Highway 401 was diverted from its former alignment in Windsor,
Ontario
along what is now Dougall Parkway, to its current terminus
with Highway 3, with the
overpass carrying Highway 3's westbound lanes being built in 1956
in anticipation of the extension. The former alignment
became Highway 401A (a secret designation, much like Highway 400A in Barrie
).
At this
time, Highway 401 was also twinned from Windsor (interchange with
Highway 98, now Provincial Road) to
the eastern interchange (Exit 63) with Highway 2 in Tilbury
, with two new lanes being constructed north of the
existing lanes. The new carriageway became the westbound
lanes, while the original two-lane carriageway became the
east-bound lanes. This twinning from Windsor to Tilbury was
completed in 1965. By 1968, all of Highway 401 was twinned to a
minimum of four lanes.
In 1965,
Lieutenant
Governor of Ontario William Earl
Rowe issued an
Order-in-Council, on the advice of
then-
Premier John Robarts, designating Highway 401 the
Macdonald-Cartier Freeway, to honour both Sir
John A. Macdonald and Sir
George-Étienne Cartier, two of
the
Province of Canada's
Fathers of Confederation, and in
recognition of Canada's upcoming
centennial celebrations in 1967. This
name is found on maps and official documents, but seldom used in
conversation or on modern
road signs.
Macdonald's name is misspelled on Internet mapping services, such
as Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth, in spite of repeated
requests to data supplier Navteq to correct the error. A 1961
proposal to name the highway the
Leslie
M. Frost Thruway,
after the recently retired Premier of Ontario, was approved by the
provincial cabinet, but was never carried on to receive
Royal Assent.
"Carnage Alley"
The
section of Highway 401 between Windsor
and London
has become
known as "Carnage Alley", particularly since 1988, when a long
string of particularly violent and deadly accidents occurred in this section.
These accidents have occurred because of the road's initial 1950s
design, particularly narrow lanes,
soft
shoulders, and a narrow grass median which have been
insufficient in preventing cross-directional collisions. This
stretch of
highway is also the busiest
truck route in
North America.
One of the more accident-prone parts of the freeway is at Exit 109
(Victoria Road, formerly
Highway
21, now Chatham-Kent Roads 17/21). The freeway curves
immediately east of the interchange and many people are not used to
a curve near an interchange, particularly on the Windsor-London
stretch of freeway, which is mainly straight.
Ironically, the Windsor-London segment's largely-straight and flat
alignment has also led to accidents due to its monotonous and
unengaging nature, resulting in drivers being prone to falling
asleep at the wheel. The flat terrain surrounding the freeway
offers no shelter from the wind, so winter storms blow snow across
the highway, where the traffic polishes it to a nice sheen for ice
to build up.
These crosswinds-along with ice, driver
fatigue, gravel shoulders and aggressive driving-combined to create
an automotive "Bermuda
Triangle
".
This segment of Highway 401 was the site of Canada's deadliest
automobile
pile-up on
September 3 1999 (
Labour Day weekend). An 87-vehicle crash occurred
on the freeway just east of the
Manning
Road interchange and truck inspection centre, during a thick
fog, killing seven and injuring 40 others. The motorists were not
provided with warning of the fog, as the weather station in that
region had malfunctioned that day.
The MTO immediately added paved shoulders and
rumble strips, and provided funding for
additional
police to be
hired to patrol this stretch. The
Canadian Automobile
Association (CAA) described these steps as a "quick-fix", as
their preferred solution is to replace the grass median with a
concrete barrier and an additional
lane per direction; this is a long-term plan of the Ministry. For
more on this,
read
below.
Speeding and tailgating
Many of
the accidents described earlier are attributed to speeding and
tailgating (following too closely),
causing many motorists in Ontario to consider having the MTO raise
the speed limit on 400-series highways from 100 km/h to
110-120 km/h, bringing the network in line with comparable
freeway networks in the United States
, Europe, and other provinces
such as Alberta
. The speed limit was reduced from the
pre-metric 70 mph in 1974 by act of Provincial Parliament. The
basis for this reduction was improved safety, unlike the reductions
in US speed limits at the same time.
Recently, to combat excessive speeding, the Ontario Provincial
Legislature, on the recommendation of the Ministry of
Transportation and the
Ontario
Provincial Police, has passed a law that allows police to
immediately suspend the driver’s licence and impound the vehicle
involved for seven days in the case of "excessive speeding"
(driving 50 km/h over the limit, or over 150 km/h on
400-series highways).
Transport
trucks are also going to be limited by speed governors to 105 km/h, the same as
in nearby Ohio
, with mixed
public sentiment on the matter.
In contrast with proposals for raising the speed limit, there has
been growing grassroots support for a revival of
photo-radar with a twist: the total proceeds
from photo-radar fines are diverted to a specific charity such as a
local hospital
emergency room (where
many highway traffic accident victims end up) overcoming previous
objections to photo-radar where fines were perceived by the public
to be mixed with the government's general tax revenue. However,
opponents of photo-radar argue that it does not address the root
causes of speeding.
Highway of Heroes
On
24 August 2007, the
Ministry of
Transportation (MTO) announced that the stretch of Highway 401
between Glen Miller Road, in Trenton
, and the
intersection of the Don Valley
Parkway and Highway 404,
in Toronto
, would bear
the additional name Highway of Heroes, in honour of
Canada's fallen soldiers (notably those who died on duty in
Afghanistan),
though Highway 401 in its entirety remains designated as the
Macdonald-Cartier Freeway. This length of the
freeway is often travelled by a convoy of
vehicles carrying a fallen soldier's body, with his or her family,
from CFB
Trenton
to the coroner's office at
the Centre for Forensic Sciences in Toronto, and since 2002, when
the first of Canada's fallen soldiers were returned from
Afghanistan, crowds from communities along this part of the 401
lined the overpasses to pay their respects as convoys
passed. Large signs and several smaller reassurance markers
with the new designation have been added along the Highway of
Heroes; similar to the older and discontinued M-C Freeway shields
installed in the 1960s, the King's Highway shields, along with two
shields with a poppy symbol (one with 401 designation and two with
poppies with text
Highway of Heroes and
Autoroute des
héros), appear after each on ramp along the route. The name's
origins can be traced to June 25, 2007 when Toronto Sun columnist
Joe Warmington first described people standing on Highway 401
bridges from Trenton to Toronto as a “Highway of Heroes”
phenomenon.
 |
 |
The billboard version of the Highway
401 Highway of Heroes sign. |
The King's Highway shield version of
the Highway 401 Highway of Heroes sign. |
Future expansion and upgrades
In the 1950s, Highway 401 had initially been constructed as a four
lane divided highway but the narrow grass median has since proven
insufficient in preventing cross-directional collisions. In 1999,
the Windsor-London stretch of Highway 401 was infamously dubbed as
"Carnage Alley" after numerous fatal accidents. The most infamous
was an 87 vehicle pileup on Labour Day weekend during thick fog
that claimed seven lives and injured 40 others, just east of the
Manning Road interchange and truck
inspection centre. Due to this pile-up, the Ministry of
Transportation began erecting signs that say "Fatigue Kills, Take A
Break" and "Tailgating Kills, Leave Some Space" along the route
between Windsor and London. These were later applied to other
notoriously dangerous stretches of provincial highways across the
province. Much of the construction work which is still ongoing
involves replacing the median strip with an "
Ontario tall-wall" concrete barrier and
often an extra lane per direction.
Areas
currently being upgraded are between Windsor and Tilbury
, around the City of Kingston
, the London
area, from
Stevenson Road in Oshawa
to Highway 35/115, from Port Hope to Cobourg
, and west from Cambridge
towards Woodstock
. This will be followed later by staged
upgrades between Trenton
and Belleville
, and eventually the remaining sections between
Cobourg and Kingston. Upgrading the final rural sections
between Tilbury, Chatham and London, and from Cornwall to the
Quebec Boundary remain beyond the 35-year planning horizon at this
time.
As a result of multi-vehicle accidents that have shut down the
freeway, the MTO implementated province-wide "
Emergency Detour Routes" (labelled
"EDR" along freeways and exits). These EDRs are signed at exits,
and along parallel
county roads (which
may or may not have been downloaded/former provincial highways) or
major arterial roads in towns and cities to help motorists detour
around an accident and find their way back to the freeway if a
stretch of it is closed for any reason. However, this diverts high
speed highway traffic on to low speed country roads, creating
congestion due to the reduced capacity of the road.
Windsor-area upgrades and extensions
On
14 November 2005,
the joint Canadian-American committee studying the options for
expanding the Windsor
- Detroit
border crossing announced that its preferred option
was to directly extend Highway 401 westward, using a new bridge or
tunnel to cross the Detroit River and
interchange with Interstate 75
somewhere between the existing Ambassador Bridge
span and Wyandotte
.
In the
14 February 2008 issue of
The
Windsor Star, it was reported that the MTO was buying
properties and making offers to buy other properties on the
southwest side of Windsor for a potential extension of Highway 401.
The area where the MTO is reportedly purchasing property is just
south of
E. C. Row
Expressway, parallel to the existing freeway, where there is
light development. Currently, the area is mostly rural, with a few
newer houses with older ones as well, along with
mostly-undeveloped parks
and nature preserves (see
Neighbourhoods of
Windsor, Ontario#West Side for more information on this
neighbourhood). Currently, the Ministry of Transportation has
stated tentative plans for the extension of Highway 401 by
travelling up
Highway 3/Talbot
Road/
Huron Church Road, before
branching west towards E.C. Row Expressway, heading towards the
river towards a new bridge to
Interstate
75. The cost for the access route/extension is estimated to be
at
$1.5 billion, but does not
include expropriating homes and businesses along Highway 3 and in
the "Yawkey Bush" neighbourhood. This plan follows the "
GreenLink" proposal drafted up by the
Detroit River International
Crossing and the
Windsor City
Council.
Home owners along the newly-built Chappus Street subdivision have
stated they are worried that their land values will weaken if they
are sandwiched between E.C. Row and Highway 401, as their houses
(and the extension of Chappus Street) were built around 2003, while
area developer Ashraf Botros claims that his plans for a much
larger subdivision around Chappus Street now have to be scuttled
from this potential extension.
On
March 3, 2008, the
Michigan
Department of Transportation and the MTO (in partnership with
Transport Canada and the Federal Highway
Administration of the United States, and the Detroit River International
Crossing group) completed a joint assessment on the soils along
the Detroit River, on both the
American
and Canadian
sides to determine if the ground in the area was
strong enough to support the weight of a proposed bridge over the
river. The technical analysis had determined the soils along
the river can indeed support the weight of a new bridge. This was a
grave concern of all parties involved in the bridge construction
process, due to the nearby
Windsor Salt
Mine's activities only a kilometer (0.6 mile) or so away, and the
soils in the area being of
clay and
sandy sediment.
On
May 1,
2008, it was
announced that a new proposed highway, called the Windsor-Essex
Parkway, will be connected extending Highway 401 to a new
inspection plaza and river crossing in West Windsor. This project
will cost about $1.6 billion, but the parkway will divert heavy
trucks off local streets and there will be several tunnels so local
residents can cross over the parkway with ease. There will be
frontage roads for local traffic paralleling the parkway.
Essex County upgrades
The vast majority of the Essex County upgrades have been completed
and opened to traffic. The only parts remaining to be upgraded are
from 3 km west of Manning Road, to Highway 401's terminus in
Windsor at Highway 3, which will be upgraded pending the approval
of a new border crossing. This part of freeway has become a
widened, concrete-paved six-lane freeway separated by an Ontario
Tall-Wall barrier.
Despite having a substantial increase in
potential vehicle capacity, this section remains the newest and
most lightly-travelled of any six-lane stretch of freeway in
Ontario (as most freeways of more than six lanes are found in major
urban areas, such as the Greater
Toronto Area, London
, Kitchener
, and Ottawa
).
Highway 3 to Essex County Road 19
The
Windsor Star has reported
that the stretch of Highway 401 from
Highway 3 (its western terminus) to
where the road widens to three lanes per direction (3 km west
of Manning Road) will remain as a four-lane route until a route to
a potential new border crossing has been finalized. The MTO intends
on upgrading this section, particularly its dangerous interchange
with Highway 3 (sharp curves, poor lines of sight, aging overpass
structure) when a new bridge and freeway corridor has been chosen.
The road widens from four lanes to six lanes just after approaching
the former westbound truck inspection station.In the future, the
city of Windsor has announced it will extend Highway 401 to the
U.S. border where a bridge will be built and access to Interstate
75.
County Road 19 to County Road 42
Highway
401 is seeing a complete overhaul and expansion between the city of
Windsor,
Ontario
and Tilbury, Ontario
, in response to the 87-car pile-up that killed 8 on
September 3, 1999. The road is being expanded from two lanes
per direction with a narrow grass median to three lanes per
direction (with concrete pavement),
rumble
strips, a concrete divider, and newer overpasses at
Highway 77, French Line Road (St.
Joachim Road), and two are planned for Puce Road, Belle River Road,
and Former Rochester Township 3rd Concession Road (Eastern
Lakeshore).
The next phase for upgrading and widening Highway 401 in Essex
County is currently under way and will stretch from Belle River
Road/Essex Road 27 to Highway 77, widening each carriageway from
two to three lanes, with a concrete barrier, and should be
completed by November 2007. This construction zone is roughly the
same size as the previous two, at 10.6 km in length.
From (west) To (east) |
Originally |
Currently |
Planned |
3 km West of Manning Road to
1 km east of Belle River Road (County Road 27) |
2 narrow lanes per direction, dangerously narrow carriageways,
dangerously narrow median, bi-directional onramps |
3 lanes per direction, Ontario Tall-Wall concrete barrier,
separated onramps |
Completed |
1 km east of Belle River Road (CR 27) to 3 km west of
Highway 77 interchange
(10.6 km in length) |
2 narrow lanes per direction, dangerously narrow carriageways,
dangerously narrow median, bi-directional onramps |
Under Construction/Widening/Upgrades |
3 lanes per direction, Ontario Tall-Wall concrete barrier,
separated onramps |
3 km west of Highway 77 interchange to 1 km
east of Queen's
Line in Tilbury |
2 narrow lanes per direction, dangerously narrow carriageways,
dangerously narrow median, bi-directional onramps |
3 lanes per direction, Ontario Tall-Wall concrete barrier,
separated onramps |
Completed |
Additionally, the Windsor South Truck Inspection Station has been
upgraded to a commercial vehicle inspection facility
London area upgrades
Highway
401 though the city of London
, east of
Wellington Road, had been widened to six lanes in the 1980s, using
the median right-of-way and erecting a three-foot jersey concrete
barrier. In the 1990s, the stretch east of London was also
widened to six lanes all the way to just east of Highway 403, this
time using a four-foot Ontario Tall-Wall concrete barrier. The
Tall-Wall barrier was also added to the segment of Highway 401 from
the west of Wellington Road until the overpass with Southminster
Bourne, though this segment remained four lanes wide.
From 2006 to 2008, Highway 401 in London between Wellington Road
and
Highway 402 was widened
from four to six lanes. The improvements included high mast
lighting, a changeable message sign, advanced drainage systems and
paved shoulders on both sides of the roadway.
This, with the
widening projects between Woodstock
and Kitchener
, made Highway 401 at least six lanes wide from
Port Hope to the Highway 402
interchange (From London to Toronto).
The very busy Wellington Road interchange was completely redesigned
and rebuilt as a
parclo
interchange. Construction began in 2006 and ended in mid
2008.
A parclo interchange with Wonderland Road west of the partial
Highway 402 interchange will be completed to provide better
connectivity for motorists in London's southwest end to access
Highway 401 west to Windsor. No definite time line has been set for
this project.
Long-term plans call for eight lanes through the city due to its
increased use as a commuter road. However, these improvements are
not planned until around 2020 and remain mid-to-long-term goals for
the Ministry of Transportation.
Originally |
Currently |
Lanes: 4 from Highway 402 to
Wellington Road. |
Lanes: 6 from Highway 402 to
Highway 403. |
Median: Ontario Tall-Wall. |
Median: Ontario Tall-Wall retained, with high-mast lighting
poles and overhead sign gantries added at intervals. |
Paved inner shoulder, gravel outer shoulder. |
Paved inner and outer shoulders. |
Rumble strips on outer shoulder |
Rumble strips on both inner and outer shoulders. |
Wellington Road overpass (1956) carries four lanes of local
traffic, crossed six lanes of highway traffic. |
Wellington Road overpass (2008) carries six lanes of local
traffic, crosses up to ten lanes of highway traffic. |
3/4 Cloverleaf
interchange with Wellington Road. |
Parclo A4 interchange with Wellington
Road. |
Oxford County upgrades
In the
late fall 2005, the Ministry of Transportation
of Ontario started a construction project to upgrade the
current four-lane section of Highway 401 from four to six lanes
from west of Oxford County Road 3 to west of Waterloo Regional Road
97 (where the next six-lane concrete-divided road begins) in the
County of
Oxford
and Regional Municipality
of Waterloo.
This is currently part of the last four-lane section between London
and Toronto (stretching from Highway 403 Interchange in Woodstock,
Ontario to Waterloo Road 97 in Kitchener, Ontario), but is being
upgraded to six lanes plus an Ontario tall-wall barrier in the
median. This is the first stage of upgrades of this final four-lane
section.
In fall 2003, the widening of Highway 401 from four to six lanes
from the Highway 8 interchange to Waterloo Regional Road 97 was
completed. The Y-junctions with Highway 8 and Highway 403, opened
in 1987 and 1990, respectively, were designed in mind to
accommodate the widening of Highway 401 through Oxford and
Waterloo.
Currently |
Planned |
Lanes: 4 |
Lanes: 6 |
Median: Grassed |
Median: Ontario Tall-Wall |
Rumble strips |
Rumble strips (new) |
Interchanges every 5 km or so |
Interchanges every 5 km,
plus two new emergency ramps
|
One slightly sharp curve north of Oxford Road (Oxford CR 29,
Exit 250) |
slightly re-aligned and straightened (completed and
re-opened) |
Aside from the addition of one lane per direction and a tall-wall
barrier, two emergency ramp connectors that are intended to be used
only during emergency highway closures, construction, and similar
circumstances to permit traffic to move off the freeway (and
emergency vehicles onto it) have been constructed. Built near
Oxford Road 3 and Trussler Road, the ramps are an unprecedented
addition to the Ontario highway system.
Other emergency accesses have been built in Essex County where the
road was recently widened from 4 to 6 lanes, but these are gravel,
and all are alongside overpasses, for use by ambulances,
firetrucks, and police cars in emergencies only.
This is
currently in stages, and will eventually close the 4-lane gap
between the two 6-lane sections (London
/Highway 402-Woodstock
/Highway 403
and Kitchener
/Waterloo Road 97 (Cedar Creek Drive)-Toronto
).
The first
segment in Oxford
County
to see the upgrades is from Waterloo RR 97 to
Oxford CR 3, with further upgrades planned from Oxford CR 3 to
Highway 403. Several large upgrades will be carried out
here:
- The interchange of Towerline Road and Middletown Line (Exit
236, just north of Highway 403) has been completely rebuilt and
redesigned, as its former ramp configuration was extremely
dangerous (short ramps with tight curves leading from an
intersection just 30 feet/10 meters from the freeway, requiring a
driver to "floor it" to get up to speed in time).
- The aging and sagging overpass structure at Towerline Road has
been replaced, making this a long-overdue upgrade.
- The cloverleaf
interchange with Former Highway
2 (Exit 238, which was the final remaining cloverleaf with two
divided highways in the province) is now converted into a parclo interchange, as cloverleafs are no longer up
to the Ministry of Transportation's safety standards (mostly from
weaving). This was not a disruptive construction contract, as the
traffic volumes at the interchange (on Highway 2) were actually
quite low (which is also why the cloverleaf interchange worked
smoothly) since former Highway 2 has been all but replaced by
Highway 403 in the early 1990s. This leaves the Highway 4/401 interchange in
London, Highway 62/401
interchange in Belleville
, and the former Highway 88/Highway 400 interchange in Bradford
as the last cloverleaf interchanges on a
400-series highway.
Mississauga upgrades
There are plans to widen the Mississauga stretch from six lanes to
12 lanes from the 403-410 interchange to the Credit River, and 10
lanes to Mississauga Road; this has recently been a major
bottleneck due to the reduced capacity west of the junction. Actual
construction on the expansion is slated to start in 2008 at the
earliest, but for the last decade, numerous prerequisite projects
have been undertaken.
The
403-410
interchange, which was under construction from the 1970s until
1995, is designed in mind for westward expansion of the
collector-express system. The Highway 401 collector overpass
structures crossing Highway 410 each of which have an additional
lane which is currently unused. There is also an available
right-of-way for a loop ramp from Highway 403 northbound to Highway
401 west and a direction ramp in the opposite direction, which is
designed to improve access from Cawthra Road; this project would
make the
403-410
interchange a full four-way interchange.
The Kennedy Road overpass, opened in the early 1990s just west of
the 403-410 junction, is wide enough to accommodate expansion of
the 12 lane collector-express system. The Derry Road underpass have
been widened to accommodate this in the late 1990s. An interchange
has been added with Mavis Road in 1999, which has been extended
north to Highway 401 and beyond, and the overpass abutments are
designed to allow future lengthening so fourteen lanes can pass
under. In 2002, the Mississauga Road four-lane overpass was
replaced with an eight lane structure that can span fourteen lanes,
while the interchange ramps were also realigned to support higher
speeds.
The main obstacles to Highway 401 expansion are the aging Second
Line, Creditview Road, and Hurontario Street
overpasses, which were completed in the early 1960s
and place height restrictions on vehicles passing under. They will
be demolished and replaced as part of the reconstruction.
Recently, the
Ministry of
Transportation also has mid-term plans to construct
HOV lanes along Highway 401 from Mississauga Road
to the 403/410 interchange. They have also announced long-term
plans to further extend the HOV lanes further west to
Milton.
Durham Region area upgrades
Highway
401 in Durham Region
between Stevenson Road and Highway 35/115 (approximately 23.4 km) has
been resurfaced.
As this is the oldest stretch of freeway in use (having been
constructed between 1938 and 1942), the road is seeing many
upgrades, including the opening of new interchanges with longer
ramps and better safety features, while older ones (such as the
former Harwood Avenue interchange being replaced by the newly-built
Salem Road interchange, 1 km to the east) have been closed off
and removed.
The Park
Road exit, Exit 416, has been replaced by a new interchange at
Stevenson Road in Oshawa
.
Construction on the interchange began September 7, 2005. This
project is set to be complete by 2010 at a total cost of
$65,097,000.00..
Further
west in Ajax
, Highway
401 between Carruthers Creek and Church Street has been widened
from four to five lanes. There are plans to widen the highway to 12
lanes with express-collector lanes extending from Brock Road in
Pickering
, to Brock Street in Whitby
, along
with interchanges at Lakeridge Road and the 407-401 Durham West Connector
corridor towards Highway
407.
The
Ministry of
Transportation also has long-term plans to construct
HOV lanes along Highway 401 from Brock Road in
Pickering to Stevenson Road in Oshawa.
Traffic cameras

Traffic Jam on Highway 401's
Collector-Express system in Toronto.
To manage traffic, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO)
installed the
Freeway Management System -
COMPASS, the most advanced of its kind in the world when it was
deployed in 1991 by
Delcan
Corporation. Using a combination of
CCTV cameras, vehicle detection
loops and LED
changeable message
signs, the MTO Traffic Operations Centre can obtain a real-time
assessment of traffic conditions and alert highway travellers of
collisions and construction.
The system currently stretches from Highway 403, Mississauga
to Harwood Avenue, Ajax
, and is
likely to be extended westward and eastward as Highway 401 is
reconstructed and upgraded.
Volume Information (2005)
AADT = Average Annual
Daily Traffic
SAWDT = Summer Average WeekDay Traffic
Major cities
|
Listed below are notable cities along the route of Highway 401,
from west to east. Bolded cities are
officially-designated control cities
for signs.
|
Montréal
is displayed as control city on signage east of
Cornwall
, although the nominal transition is far west of
greater Montreal, at Rivière Beaudette
.
Trivia
In the
late 1980s to late 1990s, the stretch of Highway 401 eastbound
around Milton
and
westbound around Whitby
had
chevrons painted in themiddle of each lane. Signs advised
motorists to keep at least two chevrons apart, in essence warning
them not to follow too closely. Some of these chevrons remain
intact in the lanes in Whitby, although some of the signs stating
their use have since been removed.
In 1986, the Canadian writer George Elliot published
God's Big
Acre: Life in 401 Country, a series of vignettes and portraits
collected along the Windsor-Quebec corridor of the 401.
Until the
late 1990s, Highway 401 had blue signs near Windsor and the Greater
Toronto Area stating nearby Interstate highways in the United States
as "Advantage: I-75
I-80 I-90". Advantage was Mainline Automated
Clearance System that processed trucks electronically. Trucks were
fitted with transponders that relayed location, date, time, weight
and axle information. This allowed trucks to bypass truck
inspection stations if they already have been inspected. It also
improved processing times at truck inspection stations.
An example of the sign:
Highway 401 is the busiest highway in North America, one of the
busiest in the world, and one of the widest highways in the world,
with a maximum of 18 through lanes. It has the longest
collector/distributor configuration in the world
Incidents
In August
2005, the crash of Air France Flight 358
at Toronto Pearson International
Airport
was viewed by motorists traveling along Highway 401
near the airport. Traffic was highly congested throughout
the day as emergency crews used the highway to access the crash
scene. Many motorists also pulled over to witness the crash and its
aftermath, affecting traffic flow for days. The international
attention in the media often sidetracked to talk about the highway,
noting its 18 lane collector/express configuration and its
congestion. Traffic cameras along the 401 were also used to cover
the event.
In August
2008, sections of the 401 in Toronto were closed during the
2008
Toronto Propane Explosion
as a precautionary measure due to the highway's
proximity to the blasts.
Exit list
The following are a few of the major interchanges:
Bridges, overpasses and underpasses
There are a variety of overpasses used on the 401. Older spans were
concrete bridges with copper railings. These overpasses have been
replaced with either
Box girder
bridge or
Girder bridge where the
401 has been widened.
In older sections of the 401 over rivers,
Truss bridge are used to span across the
waterway.
Service centres
The service centres are located at the following points on Highway
401 and contain the following services:
Location |
km |
Direction |
Fuel |
Food |
Other |
|
Ingersoll |
223 |
Westbound |
Esso |
Tim Hortons, Wendy's |
Nicholby's Express |
225 |
Eastbound |
Esso |
Tim Hortons, Wendy's |
Nicholby's Express |
Cambridge |
289 |
Eastbound |
Petro-Canada |
McDonald's |
Picnic Area |
Westbound |
Petro-Canada |
McDonald's |
Picnic Area
Ellis Chapel
|
Newtonville/Newcastle |
444 |
Westbound |
Esso |
Tim Hortons, Wendy's |
Nicholby's Express
picnic area
|
Port Hope |
453 |
Eastbound |
Esso |
Tim Hortons, Mr.
Sub, Wendy's |
Picnic area |
Trenton |
519 |
Eastbound |
Petro-Canada |
McDonald's -
closed as of Oct 2009 |
Picnic area |
Westbound |
Shell |
Tim Hortons, Mr.
Sub, Wendy's |
Picnic area |
Camden East |
591 |
Westbound |
Petro-Canada |
McDonald's |
Picnic area |
Odessa |
604 |
Eastbound |
Esso -
last fuel in Ontario as of Oct 2009 |
Tim Hortons, KFC |
Picnic area |
Mallorytown |
677 |
Westbound |
Esso |
Tim Hortons, Wendy's |
Picnic area |
679 |
Eastbound |
Esso |
Tim Hortons, Wendy's |
Nicholby's Express |
Lancaster |
827 |
Westbound |
Husky |
|
Lane configuration from west to east
Section |
Lane Configuration |
Huron Church Road/Highway 3
to Essex County Road 42 |
2 lanes in each direction
1 additional lane in each direction currently under
construction
|
Essex County Road 42 to Highway 402 |
2 lanes in each direction
1 lane in each direction currently
planned.
|
Highway
402 to Oxford County Road 2 |
3 lanes in each direction
1 additional lane in each direction currently
planned
|
Oxford County Road 2 to Oxford County Road 3 |
2 lanes in each direction
1 additional lane in each direction currently under
construction
|
Oxford County Road 3 to Milton, ON |
3 lanes in Each Direction |
Milton, ON to Highway
410/Highway
403 |
3 Lanes in Each Direction
Stretch east of Mississauga Road to 403/410 interchange
currently being widened to accommodate a collector/express
system
1 HOV lane per
direction currently under planning
|
Highway
410/Highway 403 to
Toronto Airport Basketweave |
9 Lane collector/express system Eastbound
5 Express, 4 Collector
9 Lane collector/express system Westbound
4 Express, 5 Collector
|
Toronto Airport Basketweave to Highway 427/Eglinton Avenue |
9 Lane collector/express system Eastbound
4 Express, 5 Collector
9 Lane collector/express system Westbound
4 Express, 5 Collector
|
Under the Highway 427 Interchange |
4 lanes in each direction |
Highway 427/Carlingview Drive to Highway 409 |
5 lanes in each direction |
Highway 409 to Highway
400 |
7 lane collector/express system in each direction
4 Express, 3 Collector
|
Highway 400 to The Basketweave |
9 lane collector/express system in each direction
4 Express, 5 Collector
|
The Basketweave to Allen Road |
7 lane collector/express system in each direction
4 Express, 3 Collector
|
Allen Road to Don River West Branch Hogg's
Hollow Bridge |
7 lane collector/express system in each direction
3 Express, 4 Collector
|
Don River West Branch to Yonge
Street |
6 lane collector/express system in each direction
4 Express, 2 Collector
1 additional collector lane in each direction currently under
construction
|
Yonge Street to Bayview
Avenue |
7 lane collector/express system in each direction
4 Express, 3 Collector
|
Bayview Avenue to Highway
404/Don Valley Parkway |
7 lane collector/express system in each direction
3 Express, 4 Collector
|
Highway 404/Don Valley Parkway to Kennedy Road |
8 lane collector/express system in each direction
4 Express, 4 Collector
|
Kennedy Road to Markham Road/Highway 48 |
7 lane collector/express system in each direction
3 Express, 4 Collector
|
Markham Road/Highway 48 to Neilson Road |
6 lane collector/express system in each direction
3 Express, 3 Collector
|
Neilson Road to Whites Road (Durham Regional Road 38) |
7 lane collector/express system in each direction
4 Express, 3 Collector
|
Whites Road to Brock Road (Durham Regional Road 1) |
7 lane collector/express system in each direction
3 Express, 4 Collector
|
Brock Road to Westney Road (Durham Regional Road 31) |
5 lanes in each direction
1 additional lane in each direction currently
planned
|
Westney Road to Salem Road (Durham Regional Road 41) |
5 lanes in each direction |
Salem Road to Stevenson Road (Durham Regional Road 53) |
3 lanes in each direction
2 additional lanes in each direction currently
planned
|
Stevenson Road to Cobourg |
3 lanes in each direction
1 additional lane in each direction currently
planned
|
Cobourg to Frontenac
County Road 38 |
2 lanes in each direction
1 additional lane in each direction currently
planned.
|
Frontenac County Road 38 to Sydenham Road (Frontenac County Road 9) |
3 lanes in each direction |
Sydenham Road to Montreal Street (Frontenac County Road
11) |
2 lanes in each direction
1 additional lane in each direction currently under
construction
|
Montreal Street to Highway
15 |
2 lanes in each direction
1 additional lane in each direction currently
planned
|
Highway 15 to Quebec
Line |
2 lanes in each direction |
See also
References
- [1]
- [2]
- Department of Highways,
Ontario, Annual Report for the Fiscal Year Ending March 31st,
1942, p. 9
-
http://books.google.com/books?id=r0e-8PU_4dsC&dq=%22new+kingston+road%22+oshawa&q=%22highway+2s&pgis=1#search
Annual Report By Ontario Dept. of Highways, Ontario Dept. of
Agriculture and Food, Ontario Dept. of Public Works, 1940, 1941,
1949
- TheKingsHighway.ca - History on Highway 401
- Highway 401 - the Story.html
- TheKingsHighway.ca - History on Highway 401
- [3]
- [4]
- [5]
- [6]
- [7]
- City News
- CTV.ca
- Hwy 401 - Page 3 - Ridgetown to London -
Images
- Border transportation partnership reaches milestone
- March 3, 2008
- The
Windsor-Essex Parkway
- Ministry of Transportation Road Construction
Information
- CKLW-AM 800
- Government of Ontario, Canada - News
- [8]
- [9]
- [10]
- onthighways.com on the highways.com
- Ministry of Transportation
of Ontario, 2004 Annual Average Daily Traffic
External links