Mid-Peninsula Highway

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Mid-Peninsula Highway

Highway-408.png
Proposed routing of the Mid-Peninsula Highway. [1]
Route information
HistoryProposed since 1950s[ citation needed ]
current status varies [2]
Major junctions
West endOntario 407 crown.svg  Highway 407 near Burlington
Major intersectionsOntario 403 crown.svg  Highway 403Hamilton
Ontario 406 crown.svg  Highway 406Welland
East endOntario QEW crown.svg  Queen Elizabeth WayFort Erie
Location
Country Canada
Province Ontario
Counties Niagara Region, Halton Region
Major cities Hamilton
Highway system

    The Mid-Peninsula Highway is a proposed freeway across the Niagara Peninsula in the Canadian province of Ontario. Although plans for a highway connecting Hamilton to Fort Erie south of the Niagara Escarpment have surfaced for decades, [3] it was not until The Niagara Frontier International Gateway Study was published by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) in 1998 that serious examination and planning began. The study called for an alternative route to the QEW, which runs through tender fruitlands and is not capable of expansion beyond its current configuration. The land on which studies are being performed for this future freeway is referred to as the Mid-Peninsula Corridor or the Niagara–GTA Corrdior.

    Contents

    Route description

    As proposed, the Mid-Peninsula Highway would connect Highway 403 in Hamilton with a twinned Peace Bridge in Fort Erie. North of Hamilton, it would curve and meet Highway 407 or Highway 401 north of Burlington. The entire freeway would be above the Niagara Escarpment in consideration of the wine-producing fruitlands that lie at its base; a consideration that was ignored during the construction of the QEW despite the protests of farmers.

    Connections with the southward extension of Highway 406 would be provided near Welland, as well as with the controlled-access section of Highway 6 north of Caledonia, where the freeway would pass near John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport. The majority of the route west of the Welland Canal would travel south of Highway 20. [4]

    History

    The successive Ontario Conservative governments of Premiers Mike Harris and Ernie Eves planned to forego a full environmental assessment of the freeway after a study indicated an urgent need for its construction. The Niagara Frontier International Gateway Study was published by the MTO in 1998 and indicated that the freeway was of vital importance. Prior to this study, various proposals for a freeway above the Niagara Escarpment had surfaced for several decades, though no serious examination of its merits was undertaken. [5]

    However, with the election of the Liberal government under Dalton McGuinty in 2003, a formal study was initiated. After developing the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, the McGuinty government launched a new Niagara to GTA corridor environmental assessment to study transportation needs in the corridor. [5] [6]

    A draft Transportation Development Study to consider alternative or complementary infrastructure to a freeway was completed in February 2011. The study recommended the routing be split into three groups, with route planning to commence for the eastern portion, further corridor study in the western portion and to halt but otherwise continue monitoring needs for a new transportation link in the central portion. [7] [8] As a result of the study, the Regional Municipality of Niagara has initiated an environmental assessment to identify and design a new 400-series highway linking Highway 406 and the QEW between Welland and Fort Erie, forming the eastern portion of the Mid-Peninsula Highway. Corridor planning has the support of the provincial government. [9]

    As of February 2019, the project is still in the planning phase and the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities of the House of Commons recommended that the federal government "should consider the creation of a Mid-Peninsula Transportation Corridor". [10]

    Related Research Articles

    King's Highway 407, commonly referred to as Highway 407 and colloquially as the "four-oh-seven", is a tolled 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Comprising a privately leased segment as well as a publicly owned segment, the route spans the entire Greater Toronto Area (GTA) around the city of Toronto, travelling through the suburbs of Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, Pickering, Whitby, and Oshawa before ending in Clarington, north of Orono. At 151.4 km long, this is the fourth-longest freeway in Ontario's 400 series network, after Highways 417, 400, and 401. The segment between Burlington and Brougham in Pickering is leased to and operated by the 407 ETR Concession Company Limited and is officially known as the 407 Express Toll Route (407 ETR). It begins at the junction of the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) and Highway 403 in Burlington, and travels 108.0 km (67.1 mi) across the GTA to Brock Road in Pickering. East of Brock Road, the tollway continues east as Highway 407, a toll route operated by the provincial government, for 43.4 km (27.0 mi) to Highway 35/115 in Clarington. The route interchanges with nine freeways: the QEW, Highway 403, Highway 401, Highway 410, Highway 427, Highway 400, Highway 404, Highway 412, and Highway 418. Highway 407 is an electronically operated toll highway; there are no toll booths along the length of the route. Distances are calculated automatically using transponders or automatic number-plate recognition, which are scanned at entrance and exit portals.

    The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario linking Toronto with the Niagara Peninsula and Buffalo, New York. The freeway begins at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and travels 139.1 kilometres (86.4 mi) around the western end of Lake Ontario, ending at Highway 427 as the physical highway continues as the Gardiner Expressway into downtown Toronto. The QEW is one of Ontario's busiest highways, with an average of close to 200,000 vehicles per day on some sections. Major highway junctions are at Highway 420 in Niagara Falls, Highway 405 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Highway 406 in St. Catharines, the Red Hill Valley Parkway in Hamilton, Highway 403 and Highway 407 in Burlington, Highway 403 at the Oakville–Mississauga boundary, and Highway 427 in Etobicoke. Within the Regional Municipality of Halton the QEW is signed concurrently with Highway 403. The speed limit is 100 km/h (62 mph) throughout most of its length, with the exceptions being between Hamilton and St. Catharines where the posted limit is 110 km/h (68 mph).

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">400-series highways</span> Ontario freeway network

    The 400-series highways are a network of controlled-access highways in the Canadian province of Ontario, forming a special subset of the provincial highway system. They are analogous to the Interstate Highway System in the United States or the Autoroute system of neighbouring Quebec, and are regulated by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO). The 400-series designations were introduced in 1952, although Ontario had been constructing divided highways for two decades prior. Initially, only Highways 400, 401 and 402 were numbered; other designations followed in the subsequent decades. The network is situated almost entirely in Southern Ontario, although Highway 400 extends into the more remote northern portion of the province.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Niagara Peninsula</span> Peninsula in Ontario, Canada

    The Niagara Peninsula is an area of land lying between the southwestern shore of Lake Ontario and the northeastern shore of Lake Erie, in Ontario, Canada. Technically an isthmus rather than a peninsula, it stretches from the Niagara River in the east to Hamilton, Ontario, in the west. The peninsula is located in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, and has a population of roughly 1,000,000 residents. The region directly across the Niagara River and Lake Erie in New York State is known as the Niagara Frontier.

    King's Highway 58, commonly referred to as Highway 58, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The route is divided into two segments with a combined length of 15.5 km (9.6 mi). The southern segment travels from Niagara Regional Road 3, formerly Highway 3, in Port Colborne, to the Highway 58A junction in the southern end of Welland, a distance of 7.2 km (4.5 mi). The northern segment begins at Highway 20 near Allanburg and travels north and west to a large junction with Highway 406 at the St. Catharines – Thorold boundary, a distance of 8.3 km (5.2 mi). An 18.1 km (11.2 mi) gap separates the two segments within Welland and Pelham. The entire route is located within the Regional Municipality of Niagara.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Ontario Highway 3</span> Ontario provincial highway

    King's Highway 3, commonly referred to as Highway 3, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario which travels parallel to the northern shoreline of Lake Erie. It has three segments, the first of which travels from the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor to Highway 77 in Leamington. The second portion begins at Talbotville Royal outside of St. Thomas at Highway 4, and travels to the western city limits of Port Colborne. The road is regionally maintained within Port Colborne as Niagara Regional Road 3, but regains its provincial designation at Highway 140. Its third and final terminus is at Edgewood Park, within the Fort Erie town limits. From there, the road continues as Niagara Regional Road 3 to the Peace Bridge, where drivers can cross to the United States. The total length of Highway 3 is 258.2 km (160.4 mi), consisting of 49.2 km (30.6 mi) from Windsor to Leamington, 187.9 km (116.8 mi) from Talbotville Royal to Port Colborne and 21.1 km (13.1 mi) from Port Colborne to Edgewood Park.

    King's Highway 427, also known as Highway 427 and colloquially as the 427, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that runs from the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) and Gardiner Expressway in Toronto to Major Mackenzie Drive in Vaughan. It is Ontario's second busiest freeway by volume and the third busiest in North America, behind Highway 401 and Interstate 405 in California. Like Highway 401, a portion of the route is divided into a collector-express system with twelve to fourteen continuous lanes. Notable about Highway 427 are its several multi-level interchanges; the junctions with the QEW/Gardiner Expressway and Highway 401 are two of the largest interchanges in Ontario and were constructed between 1967 and 1971, while the interchanges with Highway 409 and Highway 407 were completed in 1992 and 1995, respectively.

    King's Highway 403, or simply Highway 403, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that travels between Woodstock and Mississauga, branching off from and reuniting with Highway 401 at both ends and travelling south of it through Hamilton and Mississauga. It is concurrent with the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) for 22 km (14 mi) from Burlington to Oakville. The Highway 403 designation was first applied in 1963 to a short stub of freeway branching off the QEW, and the entire route was completed on August 15, 1997, when the section from Brantford to the then-still independent Town of Ancaster was opened to traffic. The section of Highway 403 between Woodstock and Burlington was formally dedicated as the Alexander Graham Bell Parkway on April 27, 2016, in honour of Alexander Graham Bell.

    King's Highway 410, also known as Highway 410 and colloquially as the four-ten, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that connects Highways 401 and 403 to Brampton. North of Brampton, the commuter freeway ends and the route becomes Highway 10, which continues north through Caledon as a four-lane undivided highway. The route is patrolled by the Ontario Provincial Police and has a speed limit of 100 km/h (62 mph).

    King's Highway 406, commonly referred to as Highway 406, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The primary north–south route through the central portion of the Niagara Peninsula, Highway 406 connects Welland, Thorold and downtown St. Catharines to the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW).

    King's Highway 416, commonly referred to as Highway 416 and as the Veterans Memorial Highway, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that connects the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 417) in Ottawa with Highway 401 between Brockville and Cornwall. The 76.4-kilometre-long (47.5 mi) freeway acts as an important trade corridor from Interstate 81 between New York and Eastern Ontario via Highway 401, as well as the fastest link between Ottawa and Toronto. Highway 416 passes through a largely rural area, except near its northern terminus where it enters the suburbs of Ottawa. The freeway also serves several communities along its length, notably Spencerville and Kemptville.

    King's Highway 420, commonly referred to as Highway 420, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that connects the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) with downtown Niagara Falls. It continues east as a limited-access expressway named Niagara Regional Road 420 to connect with the Rainbow Bridge international crossing between Canada and the United States over the Niagara River; this was part of Highway 420 until 1998. West of the QEW, the freeway ends at an at-grade intersection with Montrose Road. The highway has a speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph), making it the only 400-series highway to have a speed limit less than 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph) for its entirety.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway</span> Municipal freeway in Hamilton, Ontario

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    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Hill Valley Parkway</span> Municipal freeway in Hamilton, Ontario

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    King's Highway 8, commonly referred to as Highway 8, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The 159.7-kilometre (99.2 mi) route travels from Highway 21 in Goderich, on the shores of Lake Huron, to Highway 5 in the outskirts of Hamilton near Lake Ontario. Before the 1970s, it continued east through Hamilton and along the edge of the Niagara Escarpment to the American border at the Whirlpool Bridge in Niagara Falls. However, the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) replaced the role of Highway 8 between those two cities, and the highway was subsequently transferred from the province to the newly formed Regional Municipality of Niagara in 1970. In 1998, the remaining portion east of Peters Corners was transferred to the city of Hamilton.

    The Bradford Bypass, also known as the Highway 400–404 Link is a proposed east–west 400-series highway in the northern Greater Toronto Area of the Canadian province of Ontario. The approximately 16.2-kilometre (10.1 mi) route is currently undergoing planning and analysis under an environmental impact assessment (EA) by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) and the Government of Ontario. If approved, a new four-lane controlled-access highway would be built between Highway 400 near Bradford in Simcoe County, and Highway 404 near Queensville in York Region. It would serve as a bypass to the north side of Bradford.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Ontario Highway 55</span> Former Ontario provincial highway

    King's Highway 55, commonly referred to as Highway 55 and historically as the Niagara Stone Road and Black Swamp Road, was a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario, which connected the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) with Niagara-on-the-Lake, following Niagara Stone Road. The route divided a swath of wineries at the foot of the Niagara Escarpment, passing at an oblique angle to the concession road grid.

    King's Highway 58A, commonly referred to as Highway 58A, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The short route serves to connect Highway 58 with Highway 140 and passes beneath the Welland Canal through the Townline Tunnel. The entire route is located within the city of Welland in the Regional Municipality of Niagara.

    King's Highway 413, known as the GTA West Corridor or GTA West until 2021, is a proposed 400-series highway and bus transitway in the western Greater Toronto Area of the Canadian province of Ontario. The approximately 52-kilometre (32 mi) route is currently undergoing planning and analysis under an environmental impact assessment (EA) by both the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) and the Government of Ontario, as well as the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada. If approved, a new four-to-six lane controlled-access highway would be built between the existing interchange of Highway 401 and the 407 ETR at the Halton–Peel boundary, and Highway 400 north of Vaughan. In addition, two new extensions would be built to connect Highway 410 and Highway 427 with Highway 413.

    References

    1. Niagara Peninsula Needs Assessment Review Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
    2. Artuso, Antonella (December 27, 2010). "Highway Push into Niagara a Vote Issue". The Toronto Sun. p. 5. "I imagine it will become a big local issue in the next provincial election" - Halton Regional Chairman Gary Carr
    3. Williams, Patricia (January 25, 2011). "Niagara Peninsula highway rates serious consideration". Daily Commercial News. Reed Construction Data. Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
    4. Mallan, Caroline (July 21, 1999). "Niagara Road Urged". The Toronto Star. p. A4.
    5. 1 2 Herod, Doug (January 2011). "Hudak's hilarious highway plan". The Standard. St. Catharines: Sun Media. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
    6. "Study Background & Process". Niagara to GTA Corridor Planning and Environmental Assessment Study. Archived from the original on October 14, 2009. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
    7. "Draft Transportation Development Strategy - Map". Niagara to GTA Corridor Planning and Environmental Assessment Study. Archived from the original on March 25, 2012. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
    8. "Draft Transportation Development Strategy - Executive Summary" (PDF). Niagara to GTA Corridor Planning and Environmental Assessment Study. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-25. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
    9. "Minister eyes mini mid-pen alternative". St. Catharines Standard. May 10, 2011. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
    10. "Interim Report on Establishing a Canadian Transportation and Logistics Strategy". Government of Canada. Feb 20, 2019. Retrieved Aug 12, 2021.