User:Floydian/Ontario Provincial Highway Network

Provincial Highway Network
Highway markers for King's Highway 17, King's Highway 401, Secondary Highway 600, and Tertiary Highway 800
System information
Maintained by the MTO
Length	16,900 km[2][GIS 1] (10,500 mi)
Formed	February 26, 1920 (1920-02-26)[1]
Highway names
Types	King's Highway n (2–169) Secondary Highway n (500–673) Tertiary Road n (800–813)
System links
Ontario provincial highways Current Former 400-series

The Provincial Highway Network consists of all the roads in Ontario maintained by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO), including those designated as part of the King's Highway, secondary highways, and tertiary roads. Components of the system — comprising 16,900 kilometres (10,500 mi) of roads and 2,880 bridges^{[GIS 1]} — range in scale from Highway 401, the busiest highway in North America, to unpaved forestry and mining access roads. The longest highway is nearly 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) long, while the shortest is less than a kilometre. Some roads are unsigned highways, lacking signage to indicate their maintenance by the MTO; these may be remnants of highways that are still under provincial control whose designations were decommissioned, roadway segments left over from realignment projects, or proposed highway corridors.

Predecessors to today's modern highways include the foot trails and portages used by indigenous peoples in the time before European settlement. Shortly after the creation of the Province of Upper Canada in 1791, the new government under John Graves Simcoe built overland military roads to supplement water-based transportation, including Yonge Street and Dundas Street. At the time, road construction was under the control of the township and county governments. Local township roads were financed and constructed through a statute labor system that required landowners to make improvements in lieu of taxes. Private companies constructed corduroy and later plank roads and charged tolls in the second half of the 19th century. The rising popularity of the bicycle led to the formation of Ontario Good Roads Association, which advocated for the improvement of roads and recreation as the automobile rose to prominence.

By the early 20th century, the province had taken interest in road improvement and began funding it through counties. The increasing adoption of the automobile resulted in the formation of the Department of Public Highways of Ontario (DPHO) in 1916. The passing of the Canada Highways Act in 1920 resulted in the establishment of a provincial network of highways. The DPHO assigned internal highway numbers to roads in the system, and in 1925, the numbers were signposted along the roads and marked on maps. In 1930, provincial highways were renamed King's Highways and the familiar crown route markers created. The DPHO was also renamed the Department of Highways (DHO).

The 1930s saw several major depression relief projects built by manual labour, including the first inter-city divided highway in North America along the Middle Road, which would become the Queen Elizabeth Way in 1939. In 1937, the DHO merged with the Department of Northern Development, extending the highway network into the Canadian Shield. Significant traffic engineering and surveying through the war years, during which construction came to a near standstill, led to the planning and initial construction of controlled-access highways. The 400-series highways were built beginning in the late 1940s and numbered in 1952.

The vast majority of modern road infrastructure in Ontario was built throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. The cancellation of the controversial Spadina Expressway and the introduction of the Environmental Assessment Act in the 1970s resulted in a decline in new highway construction in the decades since. In the late 1990s, nearly 5,000 kilometres (3,100 mi) of provincial highways were transferred, or "downloaded" back to lower levels of government. Few new provincial highways have been built in the early years of the 21st century, although several major infrastructure projects including the Herb Gray Parkway and expansion of Highway 69 have proceeded.

In Ontario, all public roads are legally considered "highways" under the Highway Traffic Act (HTA), which sets forth regulations for traffic, or the "rules of the road".^[3] The Public Transportation and Highway Improvement Act (PTHIA) sets forth the regulations concerning roads that are under the authority of the Province of Ontario. The act distinguishes and sets out the applicability of the HTA to provincial highways, which are designated as part of The King's Highway (primary), a secondary highway, or a tertiary road. Tertiary roads may also be designated as a resource road, allowing for vehicles otherwise prohibited from public roads. Industrial roads are privately owned routes with which the MTO has entered an agreement to improve or allow public access, and are not considered part of the provincial highway network.^[4] The 407 ETR is likwise not considered part of the provincial highway network. While it is still subject to the rules set forth by the HTA, it is otherwise governed independently under the legislation of the Highway 407 Act.^[5]

Speed limits on provincial highways are legislated by sections of the road, and vary between 50 km/h (30 mph) and 110 km/h (70 mph). Freeways, including the 400-series highways, are generally signed at 100 km/h (60 mph), although sections exist that are signed lower.^{[6][GIS 2]} Three segments of freeway are part of an ongoing pilot project to test speed limits of 110 km/h in rural areas that are not subject to congestion. A fourth segment, located in Northern Ontario, was set to be announced in 2020, but has been delayed since.^[7]

Ontario uses two distinct shapes of signage to mark the King's Highways. Confirmation markers, or reassurance markers, are utilised along the designated road to confirm (near intersections) or reassure (elsewhere) drivers that they are on the correct route. The markers, known eponymously as shields, feature the route number within an outline in the shape of a shield, topped by a St Edward's Crown. In other cases, particularly when denoting the designation of an intersecting numbered road, a crown marker is used, featuring the route number within an outline of the St Edwards Crown. For secondary highways, the route number is within an outline of an isosceles trapezoid, while tertiary roads place the number within an outline of a rectangle. When these markers appear along or at an intersection with the indicated highway, they feature black text on a reflective white background. There are two exceptions to this: The QEW, which features blue text on a reflective yellow background; and toll highways, which feature white text on a reflective blue background. Signs prior to 1993 had the words "The King's Highway" below the crown, but current versions have the words removed.^[8]

In addition to regular highway markers, there are trailblazers, which indicate a route towards that highway. These are the same shape as their corresponding highway marker. Trailblazers for the King's Highway feature white text on a reflective green background, with the exception of trailblazers for the QEW, which feature yellow text on a reflective blue background. For secondary highways, trailblazers simply add the word "TO" above the route number.^[8]

Since August 2004, "Highway of Heroes" shields featuring a diagram of a poppy have been posted along Highway 401 between Toronto and CFB Trenton. These were erected to honour fallen Canadian soldiers, whose bodies were repatriated from Afghanistan in funeral convoys along that stretch of the highway.^[9]

A King's Highway junction shield

A blue-on-yellow QEW reassurance marker

A King's Highway toll route shield with toll tab

A trailblazer shield

Queen Elizabeth Way trailblazer

Highway of Heroes shield

A 407 Express Toll Route (407 ETR) shield

407 ETR trailblazer

Ontario has several distinct classes of highways:

The King's Highway is the primary highway network of Ontario, and constitutes the majority of the principal inter-urban roadways in the province. As a whole, it is referred to in the singular form as opposed to as a group of its parts (i.e. "the King's Highway", not "the King's Highways").^[4][6] Individual highways are known as "part of the King's Highway" or "the King's Highway known as n".^[6] However, in common parlance they are simply referred to as "Highway n".^[10] Ontario highways ranks fourth in North America for fatality rates, with 0.61 fatalities per 10,000 licensed drivers in 2017.^[11]

The 400-series highways and the QEW form the backbone of the King's Highway, with other routes numbered from 2 to 148.^[12] The Ministry of Transportation never designated a Highway 1.^[13] Some highway numbers are suffixed with a letter A ("alternate route"),^[14] B ("business route"),^[15] or N ("new route").^[16] In the past, there have also been routes with C and S ("scenic route") suffixes.^[17][18] The entire King's Highway network is fully paved.^[14] The term "the King's Highway" was first adopted in place of "provincial highway" in 1930, and signs similar to the current design replaced the previous triangular signs at that time.^[19][20] Some legislative acts refer to roads that are under the jurisdiction of the province as "provincial highways".^[21]

The 400-series highways are a network of controlled-access highways throughout the southern portion of Ontario, forming a special subset of the provincial highway network. They are analogous to the Interstate Highway System in the United States or the Autoroute system of neighbouring Quebec, and are regulated by the MTO.^[22] The 400-series designations were introduced in 1952, although Ontario had been constructing divided highways for two decades prior.^[23] Initially, only Highways 400, 401 and 402 were numbered; other designations followed in the subsequent decades.^[24]

While older freeways have some lapses in safety features, contemporary 400-series highways have design speeds of 130 km/h (81 mph), speed limits of 100 km/h (62 mph), various collision avoidance and traffic management systems, and several design standards adopted throughout North America.^[25] Of note are the Ontario Tall Wall median barrier and the Parclo A-4 interchange design, the latter which became standard in the design for the widening of Highway 401 through Toronto in 1962. The Institute of Traffic Engineers subsequently recommended this design to replace the cloverleaf interchange throughout North America.^[26][27]

Secondary highways exist solely within the districts of Northern Ontario that lack a county road system, to which they are analogous. The sole exception to this is Highway 537 in Greater Sudbury. They generally serve to connect remote communities to the King's Highway, or to interconnect the King's Highway. A few secondary highways remain gravel-surfaced, although most have been paved.^[14] The speed limit on nearly all of these routes is 80 km/h (50 mph), although Highway 655 is posted at 90 km/h (55 mph).^[6]

The Secondary Highway system was introduced in 1956 to service regions in Northern and Central Ontario, though it once included a route as far south as Lake Ontario. Many routes that would become secondary highways were already maintained by the province as development roads prior to being designated.^[28][29] Since 1998, none have existed south of the districts of Parry Sound and Nipissing.^[30] Secondary highways are numbered in the 500s and 600s, with existing highways numbered between 502 and 673.^[12][28]

Tertiary roads are remote routes entirely within Northern Ontario that provide access to resources (e.g. mining and forestry). Tertiary roads are numbered in the 800s, with the five existing highways numbered between 802 and 811. Most of these roads are gravel-surfaced and of low-standard. The speed limit on these routes is 80 km/h (50 mph), although design standards generally prevent such.^[14][31] Unlike other roads in the Provincial Highway Network, the MTO is not responsible for winter maintenance nor liable for damage incurred as a result of using these routes.^[4] The MTO introduced the Tertiary Road system in 1962. With the exception of Highway 802, none end in settlements.

The Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) forms several major routes across Canada. The provincial governments are entirely responsible for signage and maintenance of the routes, except through National Parks. It is signed with a distinctive white maple leaf on a reflective green background used throughout Canada, which is placed below or beside the provincial marker in Ontario. While other provinces generally place a highway number within the maple leaf of the TCH marker, Ontario either leaves it blank, or inserts a name instead; these include the Central Ontario Route, Georgian Bay Route, Lake Superior Route, Northern Ontario Route and Ottawa Valley Route.

Several portions of the King's Highway are designated as part of the Trans-Canada Highway within Ontario, including:

In addition to these classes of highways, the MTO maintains other roads, such as resource roads or industrial roads, that are of strategic importance to the provincial government. These roads are designated with 7000-series numbers for internal inventory purposes, though they are not publicly marked as such. They are often, but not always, former highway segments which were decommissioned as a King's Highway, but remain important as connecting routes to communities or other highways in areas without municipal governance.^[14]

There were formerly several designated Ontario Tourist Routes that were located throughout the entire province.^[32] However, beginning in February 1997, Tourism-Oriented Directional Signs (TODS) began to appear on highways.^[33] Tourist Routes no longer appeared on maps after 1998.^[30]

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 lower levels of government, a process referred to as downloading. Several thousand kilometres of provincially maintained highways were transfered to the various municipalities in which they are located. These transfers were performed under the reasoning that they served a mostly local function, as a cost-saving measure and as part of a broader exchange of responsibilities between the province and its municipalities.

On April 1, 1997, 1,767.6 kilometres (1,098.3 mi) of highways were removed from the King's Highway system.^[34] This was followed by the removal of 3,211.1 kilometres (1,995.3 mi) on January 1, 1998,^[35] for a total of 4,978.7 kilometres (3,093.6 mi).

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Highways in Ontario.

• List of provincial highways in Ontario

• Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO)
• MTO 100th Anniversary - History
• Official Ontario road map
• Ontario 511 Traveller Information - Highway conditions
• Ontario's Highway Programs
• Road maps of Ontario, 1923–2010