Before 1791: Native footpaths Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 17th century, transportation across what became Ontario was generally via the thousands of lakes and rivers. Short trails existed between bodies of water, known as a
portage or carrying place, as well as along the shorelines of the larger lakes. In 1615, French explorer
Samuel de Champlain was the first European to pass through the lands between the
Great Lakes, accompanied by
Huron and
Iroquois guides. His emissary
Étienne Brûlé as well as
Franciscan Récollets such as
Joseph Le Caron and
Joseph de La Roche Daillon were the first to explore various lands of the area, all with the assistance of the local First Nations. For the next 150years, France and Britain wrestled for control of the
colony of Canada while simultaneously exploiting the land for the
fur trade of North America. This culminated in the global
Seven Years' War that ended with the signing of the
Treaty of Paris in 1763, which ceded Canada to the British. The colony of Canada was renamed the
Province of Quebec until 1791, when it was divided into
Upper Canada (modern Southern Ontario) and
Lower Canada (modern Southern Quebec) by the
Constitutional Act. This was done to provide a British-style governance to the
United Empire Loyalists fleeing north following the
American Revolution. In addition to the native portages and lake shore trails, routes developed alongside significant rivers such as the
St. Lawrence,
Ottawa,
Humber and
Grand Rivers. These meandering trails followed the lay of the land, as opposed to the straight
tangents of the surveyed roads yet to come. Some roads in Ontario still closely follow these early Native and European trails, including the Kente Portage Trail (Old Portage Road) in
Carrying Place, the oldest continuously used road in the province.
1792–1849: Settlement of Upper Canada John Graves Simcoe, the first
Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, landed at Niagara on July26, 1792, after overwintering in
Quebec City, from England and set forth to colonize the province in the image of Britain. The ambitious
abolitionist statesman, whom served the British during the
American Revolutionary War, was appointed to lead the new colony on September12, 1791. Although
Niagara-on-the-Lake (then known as Newark) served as the capital for a year, Simcoe moved it to what is now Toronto after July30, 1793, at the behest of French merchant
Philippe de Rocheblave, following the arrival of news in May of France's
declaration of war against Britain. Having reformed the
Queen's Rangers, whom he fought alongside during the American War, Simcoe set out to establish military roads to connect his new capital with the Upper Great Lakes and other strategic points. The first road he ordered built was Dundas Street, from the head of Lake Ontario near present-day
Dundas to the forks of the
Thames River in present-day
London. His Rangers began work on this route on September10, 1793. Between September25 and October14, Simcoe travelled with native guides to
Penetanguishene and back. Following the advice of an
Ojibwa named Old Sail, the return voyage followed the east branch of the
Holland River and thence south to Toronto (known as York from 1793 to 1834); this would become the route of
Yonge Street. Simcoe's Rangers would commence "run[ning] the line of the new road" with Surveyor General
Augustus Jones in February 1794. By mid-May, the Rangers had cleared and marked 14lots from
Eglinton Avenue to just north of
Sheppard Avenue before being redirected to defend
Fort Miami.
William Berczy — and the nearly 200
Pennsylvania Dutch settlers whom accompanied him from the US into Upper Canada in July 1794 — would complete the opening of the route to
Bond Lake by the end of 1794. The remainder to
Holland Landing was opened by the Rangers, under the supervision of Augustus Jones, between December28, 1795, and February16, 1796. In 1798,
Asa Danforth was hired by the government of Upper Canada to build a road to the
Trent River, in what in now
Trenton, by July1 of the following year. He began at the
Don River, where
Queen Street crosses it today, on June5 of that year, and proceeded east. Danforth was paid $90 per mile to cut a road wide, of which the middle half was cut to the level of the ground. He was also to build -wide causeways "wherever necessary" and ensure that slopes were gradual enough for a sleigh or carriage to pass. He completed the first to
Port Hope by December. The government ultimately decided that his road was unacceptable, and reportedly paid him less than owed. Portions of Danforth's road were later incorporated into
Highway 2, as well as several local roads in
Scarborough. The majority of settlers up to this point were
United Empire Loyalists — settlers of the
Thirteen Colonies loyal to Britain who fled north to the new colony. These pioneers endured starting anew in untamed wilderness, with little provisions beyond what they could carry. Many were strategically placed along Yonge Street and Dundas Street, and given the duty of clearing half the width of a road along the front of their property lot. Settlers were responsible for the upkeep, and often the building of roads in this period, with each male over 21years of age required to perform three or more days of
statute labour per year, based on the value of their land. The intention was for settlers throughout the length of the roads to work on the portion fronting their lot, which was generally twenty
chains, or long. During the early 1800s, the government of Upper Canada appropriated settlers to various lots which had been surveyed along the lake shores of
Lake Erie and
Lake Ontario. The townships established along these fronts contained generally fertile land composed of
glacial till and clay-rich
loam. As these townships filled up, business opportunities presented themselves for investors to purchase
native lands and open them to settlement. The
Canada Company was the most successful of these ventures and brought settlers to vast areas of land in what would become
Southwestern Ontario by building routes such as
Huron Road and
Toronto–Sydenham Road during the 1830s and 1840s.
1850–1893: Colonization roads and the railway in 1901, winding through a
stripped forest in
Brudenell Township, is representative of the appearance of colonization roads in central Ontario after logging razed the forests by the early 1900s As the second township frontage along Lake Ontario also filled, the government came under pressure to open up the unforgiving terrain of the
Canadian Shield to settlement and sought to establish a network of east–west and north–south roads between the
Ottawa Valley and
Georgian Bay. This area was known as the
Ottawa–Huron Tract. In 1847, an exploration
survey was carried out by
Robert Bell to lay out the lines that would become the Opeongo, Hastings, and Addington
colonization roads. The Public Lands Act, passed in 1853, permitted the granting of land to settlers who were at least 18. Those settlers who cleared at least within four years, built a house within a year, and resided on the grant for at least five years would receive the title to that land. The government subsequently built over of roads over the following 20years to provide access to these grants, although the roads were often little more than a trail cut through the forest wide enough for a wagon. Like the lands to the south, statute labour was responsible for the majority of road development and maintenance. However, by 1860, due to the unsuitability of much of the land for any kind of settlement or agriculture, the roads were almost impassable in many places, except when frozen in winter or dry in summer. The large timber drive that was clearing the forests of the Ottawa–Huron Tract in this period contributed somewhat to road construction and maintenance, but the settlers themselves were largely left to their own resolve. and a majority of other municipalities followed suit by the 1920s. However, the law remained in place provincially until being officially repealed on January1, 2022. Beginning in 1852, the
Grand Trunk Railway gradually assembled together many of the various
shortline railroads in what was soon to become Ontario to form a single route across the province, connecting
Sarnia with Montreal via Toronto, by 1884. Simultaneously, the
Canadian Pacific Railway constructed a route across northern Ontario, connecting Thunder Bay with Ottawa by 1880. The government largely subsidized these endeavours, and funding for road construction fell to the wayside, despite the pleas of townships, villages and settlers. The cries of municipalities went unanswered, but it would not stop their ambition. Coupled with the increasing adoption of the bicycle as a means of transport, and the desire of farmers to get their goods to market quicker, the
Ontario Good Roads Association was formed in 1894 by representatives from numerous townships, villages and cities. The
Good Roads Movement encouraged education on the building of proper roads, and later equipment to aid in the improvement of roads, as well as lobbying the various levels of government to fund road development and maintenance. Members would travel from town to town and across the countryside, espousing the value of properly built roads to communities. Two of the most influential members in its early days were
Archibald William Campbell and Dr.
Perry Doolittle. "Good Roads" Campbell would become the province's first Instructor in Roadmaking when the position was established on April15, 1896, under the
Department of Agriculture. Doolittle, a Toronto physician, became one of the earliest automobile owners in Canada, and spurred the good roads movement. and work began quickly to construct the road known today as
Lake Shore Boulevard and
Lakeshore Road from Toronto to Hamilton. The road was finished in November 1917, wide and nearly long, becoming the first concrete road in Ontario. The highway became the favourite drive of many motorists, and it quickly became a tradition for many families to drive it every Sunday.
1916–1933: The first provincial highways Roads and highways in Ontario were given their first serious consideration by the provincial government when the Department of Public Highways (DPHO), predecessor to the modern
Ministry of Transportation of Ontario, was established on January 17, 1916. Until then, the majority of the primary roads through southern Ontario formed part of the county road systems. The Department of Public Works paid up to 60% of the construction and maintenance costs for these roads, while the counties were responsible for the remaining 40%. The Ontario government passed an act in 1917 to permit the newly formed Department of Public Highways (DPHO) to take over (or assume) responsibility and upkeep of a provincial highway system. The initial system, between
Windsor and
Quebec, was bookended by branches to Niagara and
Ottawa. In 1919, the federal government passed the
Canada Highways Act, which provided $20,000,000 to provinces under the condition that they establish an official highway network; up to 40% of construction costs would be subsidized. The first network plan was approved on February 26, 1920. At this time, Campbell was now the Federal Commissioner of Highways. Until the summer of 1925, Ontario highways were named rather than numbered. When route numbering was introduced, the following numbers were allotted: •
Highway 2 (Windsor–Quebec, ) •
Highway 3 (Windsor–Niagara Falls, ) •
Highway 4 (St. Thomas–Elginfield, ) •
Highway 5 (Jarvis–Toronto, ) •
Highway 6 (Hamilton–Owen Sound, ) •
Highway 7 (Sarnia–Brampton, ) •
Highway 8 (Goderich–Niagara Falls, ) •
Highway 9 (Kincardine–Arthur, ) •
Highway 10 (Port Credit–Owen Sound, ) •
Highway 11 (Toronto–Severn River, ) •
Highway 12 (Whitby–Lindsay, ) •
Highway 12A (Port Hope–Peterborough, ) •
Highway 14 (Picton–Foxboro, ) •
Highway 15 (Kingston–Ottawa, ) •
Highway 16 (Prescott–Ottawa, ) •
Highway 17 (Pembroke–Quebec boundary, ) The number of Provincial Highways—as they were initially known—expanded quickly from there. The provincial highway network did not extend into the
Canadian Shield nor
Northern Ontario initially, and
Trunk Roads in the north were instead under the mandate of the
Department of Northern Development. The two primary trunk routes were extensions of
Highway 11 and
Highway 17, to
North Bay and
Sault Ste. Marie, respectively. Seeking to open the far north, construction of a road to connect North Bay and
Cochrane began in 1925, The new gravel highway was officially opened on July2, 1927, by Minister of Lands and Forests
William Finlayson. He suggested at the opening that the road be named the
Ferguson Highway in honour of premier Ferguson. The name was originally suggested by North Bay mayor Dan Barker. Despite the official opening, a section between
Swastika and Ramore wasn't opened until August. The Ferguson Highway name was also applied to the Muskoka Road between Severn Bridge and North Bay. During the 1920s, the DPHO began to examine possible remedies to chronic congestion on along Highway2, particularly between Toronto and Hamilton (
Lakeshore Road), eventually deciding upon widening the roadway midway between Lakeshore Road and
Highway 5 (Dundas Street), or
the Middle Road. It was to be more than twice the width of Lakeshore Road at and would carry two lanes of traffic in either direction. Construction on what was then known as the
Queen Street Extension west of Toronto began in early 1931. Before the highway could be completed,
Thomas McQuesten was appointed the new minister of the renamed DHO, with
Robert Melville Smith as deputy minister, following the
1934 provincial elections. and McQuesten ordered the Middle Road be converted into this new form of highway. A
right-of-way was purchased along the Middle Road and construction began to convert the existing sections to a divided highway. Work also began on Canada's first
interchange at Highway 10. The Middle Road was ceremoniously renamed the
Queen Elizabeth Way during the
1939 royal tour of Canada, taking its name from
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and was completed between Toronto and Niagara Falls on August26, 1940. Beginning in 1935, McQuesten applied the concept of a dual-highway to several projects along Highway2, including along Kingston Road in Scarborough Township. When widening in Scarborough reached the
Highland Creek ravine in 1936, the Department of Highways began construction on a new bridge over the large valley, bypassing the former alignment around
West Hill. From here the highway was constructed on a new alignment to Oshawa, avoiding construction on the congested Highway 2. As
grading and bridge construction neared completion on the new highway between West Hill and Oshawa in September 1939,
World War II broke out and gradually tax revenues were re-allocated from highway construction to the war effort. Highway17 through the
Ottawa Valley was announced as a provincially funded secondary route of the Trans-Canada the following day. Amongst some of the most difficult terrain encountered in Canada, the of wilderness known as "the Gap" was a missing link in the Trans-Canada Highway between
Nipigon and
Sault Ste. Marie. Construction began in 1956, and it was completed and ceremoniously opened to traffic on September17, 1960, uniting the two segments and completing the route of Highway17 from the Manitoba border to the Quebec border. The construction boom following the war resulted in many new freeway construction projects in the province. The Toronto–Barrie Highway (Highway400), Trans-Provincial Highway (Highway401), a short expansion of Highway7 approaching the
Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia (
Highway 402), and an expansion of Highway27 (eventually designated as
Highway 427 by the mid-1970s) into part of the Toronto Bypass were all underway or completed by the early 1950s. Highway401 was assembled across the province in a patchwork fashion, Highway400 was extended north to
Coldwater on Christmas Eve 1959; Highway402 was extended to London between 1972 and 1982. In addition to this network backbone, plans for additional 400-series highways were initiated by the late 1950s, comprising the Chedoke Expressway (
Highway 403) through
Hamilton; the
Don Valley Parkway Extension (
Highway 404) northward from the soon-to-be constructed Toronto expressway;
Highway 405 to connect with the American border near
St. Catharines;
Highway 406 south from St. Catharines to
Welland; Highway407 encircling the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), though not built for another 40 years;
Highway 409 to connect Highway401 with
Toronto International Airport; and The Queensway (
Highway 417) through Ottawa. The first sections of these freeways were opened in 1963, 1977, 1963, 1965, 1997, 1974, and 1960, respectively. In 1963, transportation minister Charles MacNaughton announced the widening of Highway401 in Toronto from four to a minimum of 12lanes between
Islington Avenue and
Markham Road. Construction began immediately; while the plan initially called for construction to end in 1967, it continued for nearly a decade. At least four lanes were always open during the large reconstruction project, which included complex new interchanges at Highway27, Highway400, the planned Spadina Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway.
1972–1995: Growth of public transit The cancellation of the Spadina Expressway led to the demise of
other proposed expressways in Toronto and elsewhere in the province, as well as a decline in new road building proposals. It remains, to this day, a controversial decision. The Environmental Assessment Act, introduced in 1975, further restricted new highway building, and as a result the 1970s and 1980s saw less new highway construction compared to prior decades. Despite this, several existing freeways were extended or expanded, including Highway402 from Sarnia to London between 1972 and 1982, Highway403 through Mississauga between 1978 and late 1982, Highway406 through
St. Catharines between 1977 and 1984, Highway417 from Ottawa to the Quebec boundary between 1970 and late 1975, and the expansion of Highway27 into Highway427 between 1968 and late 1971, as well as its extension from Highway401 to Highway7 between 1976 and 1991.
Highway 410 was also built, initially as a two lane road, between 1975 and late 1978. This was followed by the removal of on January 1, 1998, for a total of ; the move was criticized by the media. In the 1980s and 1990s,
Highway 416 was constructed through a process known as twinning in which a second
carriageway is built parallel to the existing road. In addition, existing intersections were rebuilt as
grade-separated interchanges.
Highway 16 New was built during the 1960s and 1970s, establishing the right-of-way and alignment of a future freeway as a two-lane highway. Planning for a connection to
Highway 417 began in 1987, and was completed on July31, 1997. and was completed in sections between June 1997, and September 1999, after which nearly the entire length of Highway16 was redesignated as Highway416.
2000–2023: Recent history In recent years, highway construction has generally been limited to the expansion of existing highways, principal among them Highway11, Highway400/69, and the Herb Gray Parkway extension of Highway401 into Windsor. The four-laning of of Highway11 between Barrie and North Bay was a long-term expansion that was completed August8, 2012, having been worked on since 1955. The four-laning of Highway69, which will be replaced by Highway400, has progressed northward from
Waubaushene since 1991, reaching as far as
Nobel on October26, 2010. Work has also progressed south from Sudbury since 2005, and as of 2022 has reached the
French River, leaving a gap of two-lane highway between Toronto and Sudbury. Construction began in 2012 on a provincially operated long extension to the 407ETR, known as Highway407 East (or 407E) during planning, with the project undertaken in two separate phases. Phase1 was opened on June20, 2016, consisting of a extension to Harmony Road in Oshawa, as well as the Highway412. The extension was free of tolls until February1, 2017. Phase2A, which opened on January2, 2018, added a extension to Taunton Road at the future Highway418 interchange. Phase2B, which opened on December9, 2019, added a extension to Highway35 and Highway115, as well as the Highway418. In 2004, a joint announcement by the
federal government of the United States and
Government of Canada confirmed a new Canada–U.S. border crossing would be constructed between
Detroit and Windsor. The MTO took advantage of this opportunity to extend Highway 401 to the Canada–US border and began an
environmental impact assessment on the entire project in late 2005. Despite protest from area residents, as well as a dismissed lawsuit from
Ambassador Bridge owner
Matty Moroun, it was announced on May1, 2008, that a preferred route had been selected and the new route would be named the
Windsor–Essex Parkway. The below-grade route has six through-lanes and follows Huron Church Road from the former end of Highway401 to the E.C. Row Expressway, which it then follows alongside to near the border. Construction began in August 2011, It was partially opened on June28, 2015, and completed to the
Ojibway Parkway on November21, The
Gordie Howe International Bridge is scheduled for completion , and will tie Highway401 in with
Interstate 75 in
Detroit. == Future ==