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| Last updated: June 22, 2004 (C) 2003, 2004, Michael J. LaRochelle |
| King's Highway 401 |
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| Hwy 401 is often described as "Ontario's Main Street", as it is one of the province's economic backbones. It is the busiest highway in all of North America, linking some of Ontario's largest urban centres. Hwy 401 ranges from four lanes wide to 16 lanes wide in part of Toronto. The highway stretches from Hwy 3 in Windsor to the Quebec border, and continues to Montreal as A-20. |
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| King's Highway crown image derived from Canadian Highway Markers - (C) 2000, James Lin Some historical highway information courtesy The History of Ontario's King's Highways - (C) 2004, Cameron Bevers PICK ANOTHER HIGHWAY HOME |
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| Highway 401 serves as a bypass highway for London, skirting along its southern edge. It, along with Highway 402, serve also as an east-west expressway in the south end of the city, and are considered the southern portion of London's proposed ring road. This photo shows Highway 401 looking eastbound in the south end of London, from the Dingman Road overpass. In the distant background is the Wellington Road interchange (#186), the main entrance into the southcentral part of London from Highway 401. The Dingman Road overpass is located just east of the interchange of Highways 401 and 402 (#183). This section of Highway 401 shown here is proposed to be widened to six lanes in the coming years. Photo taken 19 February 2004. (Photo courtesy Scott Steeves, HHSO Member 12) |
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| Highway 401 is the main east-west expressway through Toronto and the GTA. Originally built to bypass Toronto completely, it now cuts through the heart of the northcentral part of Toronto. This shot shows Highway 401 looking eastbound from the Don Mills Road overpass, towards the interchange for Highway 404 and the Don Valley Parkway, visible in the background. Throughout most of Toronto, Highway 401 has a special "express/collector" setup. The lanes at left are in the centre of the highway and are the express lanes. The lanes at right are on the outside of the highway, and are the collector lanes. Very few interchanges are accessable directly from the express lanes. Since interchanges are largely only accessable from the collector lanes, special "transfers" every few kilometres allow vehicles to switch between the express and collectors. As you can see, there is an exit from the express lanes to Highway 404 and the DVP, since it is such a major interchange. Photo taken 12 April 2004. (Photo courtesy Scott Steeves, HHSO Member 12) |
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| Highway 401 continues eastward from Toronto through Durham Region, home to some of Toronto's suburban areas, including Whitby and Oshawa. This shot shows Highway 401 looking westbound from the Thickson Road (Durham Road 26) overpass, at interchange #412, in the Town of Whitby. The next interchange to the west is for the former Highway 12 (now Brock St, Durham Highway 12). The express/collector setup does not exist this far east on Highway 401. This stretch of Highway 401 was part of the first section of the highway to be built, as Highway 2A, in the 1940s. Photo taken 10 June 2004. (Photo courtesy Scott Steeves, HHSO Member 12) |
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| Heading eastward, once one leaves the GTA, Highway 401 passes through beautiful eastern Ontario, very close to Lake Ontario, then along the St. Lawrence River. This shot is looking westbound on Highway 401 from the former Highway 30 overpass (now Northumberland Road 30) at interchange #509, in the Town of Brighton. Photo taken 3 June 2004. (Photo courtesy Scott Steeves, HHSO Member 12) |
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| Highway 401 looking westbound from the former Highway 133 overpass (now Lennox & Addington Road 4) at interchange #593, about 25 kilometres west of Kingston. In the distant background is the exit to a service centre, which includes a Petro-Canada gas station and a McDonalds restaurant. Photo taken 19 June 2004. (Photo courtesy Scott Steeves, HHSO Member 12) |