The Middle Road

Last updated

Middle Road

Queen Street extension
Route information
Maintained by Ontario Department of Highways
Length61.6 km[ citation needed ] (38.3 mi)
HistoryConstructed 1931–1939 [1]
renamed the Queen Elizabeth Way
Major junctions
West endOntario 20 crown.svg  Highway 20 (Plains Road) – Burlington
Major intersectionsOntario 10 crown.svg  Highway 10 (Hurontario Street) – Port Credit
Ontario 27 crown.svg  Highway 27 (Brown's Line) – Long Branch
East endOntario 2 crown.svg  Highway 2 (Lake Shore Boulevard) – Toronto
Location
Country Canada
Province Ontario
Highway system
    Freeway development in Ontario
    ←  Lake Shore Road The Middle Road Queen Elizabeth Way   →

    The Middle Road was the name for a historic highway in the Canadian province of Ontario, which served to link the cities of Toronto and Hamilton. The name was used between 1931 and 1939, after which the road became the northern section of the Queen Elizabeth Way. It borrowed the name of Middle Road from a concession road in Toronto Township between 1st Concession South and 2nd Concession South during the early 1800s.

    Contents

    The Middle Road was initially constructed as a depression relief project, employing 74 men to grade and widen the country lane into a four lane roadway. In 1934, the concept was reworked by Thomas McQuesten and Robert Melville Smith into a divided, limited access freeway, the first such intercity stretch in North America when it was opened in 1939. [Note 1]

    The Middle Road provided the blueprint for Highway 401, an expressway that became a key contributor to the economic success of Ontario. [2]

    Route description

    Bronte Creek Bridge, 1936. The old Middle Road bridge is visible in the foreground. Bridge improvement.png
    Bronte Creek Bridge, 1936. The old Middle Road bridge is visible in the foreground.
    The Middle Road Bridge over the Etobicoke Creek in 1910 Middle Road Bridge over Etobicoke Creek.jpg
    The Middle Road Bridge over the Etobicoke Creek in 1910
    The Middle Road Bridge today. It is now used only by pedestrians and cyclists. Middle Road Bridge IDM 3026.jpg
    The Middle Road Bridge today. It is now used only by pedestrians and cyclists.

    The Middle Road or Commissioners' Road, [3] named so because of its location between what were then the highways (or historic streets) between Toronto and Hamilton, Dundas Street and Lakeshore Road, followed the same path taken by today's Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), with little exception, beginning at the Humber River and travelling to Bronte Line (where today, the QEW veers south). Since the highway followed a concession road, [4] it was straight for almost its entire length, veering only at Browns Line (Highway 27), the Credit River, and at the Oakville border. At the time of construction, this route was surrounded by farmland, as most of the towns in the area at the time lay along Dundas or Lake Shore, to the north and south respectively. However, the highway spurred rapid development of the surrounding land.[ citation needed ] Middle Road was also a concession created between 1st Concession South and 2nd Concession South during the early 1800s.

    Most of the route was paved with concrete. [5] The two roadways were separated by a median varying in width, [Note 2] often filled with trees. Most of the rows of trees along the old country lane were incorporated into the median, and new ones were planted in the gaps, as equal focus was given to functionality as aesthetics. [6] Over most of the bridges, the two roadways converged, undivided. These were, however, a great improvement from the original bridges, as seen in the picture at top left. At Highway 10 (Hurontario Street) was Canada's first cloverleaf interchange, [7] opened in 1937. [8] [Note 3]

    One of the elements of the Middle Road, to which engineers paid particular attention in future highway design, was controlled access. While the section between the Humber River and Highway 27 was built without allowance for private driveways, and was thus controlled-access, many at-grade intersections existed along the Middle Road west of Highway 27, and many adjoining landowners built driveways to the highway for access, an issue that led to legislation to allow the designation of a road as 'controlled-access'. [9]

    Today, a small remnant of the pre-1930s Middle Road can be found spanning the Etobicoke Creek at the Mississauga and Etobicoke border. A bowstring bridge, constructed in 1909, carried the Middle Road until 1932 and served as a farm lane until the section of the Queen Elizabeth Way into Toronto opened in 1940. [10] [11] It was the first concrete truss bridge built in Canada. It was designed by Frank Barber and built by Octavius Hicks. [12] The short section is today named Sherway Drive.

    History

    Middle Road in 1917. Old Middle Road.png
    Middle Road in 1917.

    In colonial times, both Lakeshore Road and Dundas Street existed. In Toronto Township (modern Mississauga) the dirt path between concessions one and two was referred to as "the middle road" in 1852. [13] Later in the 19th century Toronto Township council began to ask Etobicoke Township about connecting Middle Road with a road in Etobicoke between the 2nd and 3rd concessions. There were right of way difficulties as the two roads met the Etobicoke Creek in different places. [14] These discussions continued sporadically in the late 19th century with York County Council receiving proposals from Peel County Council. [15] Finally in 1909, the Middle Road was carried over the Etobicoke River to connect to a road today known as Evans Avenue via the aforementioned bowstring bridge. [16]

    The Middle Road was not the first highway between Toronto and Hamilton. In January 1914, a concrete road known as the Toronto–Hamilton Highway was proposed. [17] The highway was chosen to run along the macadamized old Lake Shore Road, instead of Dundas Street to the north, because of the numerous hills encountered along Dundas, which would have increased the cost of the road without improving accessibility. The Middle Road, a dirt lane named because of its position between the two, was not considered since Lake Shore and Dundas were both overcrowded and in need of serious repairs. [18] By November of that year, the proposal was approved, [19] 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 by 1917, 18 feet (5.5 m) in width and nearly 40 mi (64 km) long, becoming the first concrete road in Ontario, as well as one of the longest stretches of concrete road between two cities in the world. [20] The highway became the favourite drive of many motorists, and it quickly became a tradition for many families to drive it every Sunday. [21]

    The cloverleaf interchange at Middle Road and Highway 10 was the first controlled access interchange in Canada. Middle Road - Highway 10 cloverleaf.jpg
    The cloverleaf interchange at Middle Road and Highway 10 was the first controlled access interchange in Canada.

    Over the next decade, vehicle usage increased monumentally; as early as 1920 the Lake Shore Road was once again bumper to bumper on weekends. [22] In response, the Department of Highways once again sought out improving another road between Toronto and Hamilton. The Middle Road was chosen to avoid delays on Dundas or Lake Shore. It was to have the connection across the Etobicoke Creek to Evans Avenue replaced with a connection to Queen Street west of the Humber River via a new bridge over the creek. The road was to be more than twice the width of the Lake Shore Road, at 40 ft (12 m), and would carry two lanes of traffic in each direction. [1] Construction on what was then known as the Queen Street Extension between Highway 10 and Highway 27 began in the spring of 1931, [23] and between Highway 27 and the Humber River on November 1, 1931. [24] This project included the bypassing of a jog in Queen west of Kipling Avenue, which is today known as North Queen Street. [25]

    Middle Road in 1937, east of present-day Erin Mills Parkway, looking east towards Toronto. Middle Road.jpg
    Middle Road in 1937, east of present-day Erin Mills Parkway, looking east towards Toronto.

    Before the highway could be completed, the 1934 provincial elections brought Mitchell Hepburn into office as premier, and Thomas McQuesten was appointed the new minister of the Department of Highways. [26] McQuesten, in turn, appointed Robert Melville Smith as deputy minister. Smith, inspired by the German Autobahns – new "dual-lane divided highways," separated by a depressed grass centre crossing short distances between major cities – modified the design for Ontario roads, [27] and McQuesten ordered that the Middle Road be changed into this new form of highway. [28] [29] [30] A right-of-way of 132 ft (40 m) was purchased along the Middle Road and construction began to convert the existing sections to a divided highway, as well as on Canada's first cloverleaf interchange at Highway 10. [1] A new alignment through Etobicoke was constructed, bypassing Queen Street (later renamed The Queensway) to the Humber River. [31]

    We need this new highway to relieve traffic congestion in the metro Toronto .

    Thomas McQueston [32]

    By the end of 1937, the Middle Road was open between Toronto and Burlington, where it connected with what was first known as the Hamilton – Niagara Falls Highway. It soon came time to name the new highway, and an upcoming visit by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth proved to be the focal point for a dedication ceremony. On June 7, 1939, the two royal family members drove along the highway (which now connected to Niagara Falls) and passed through a light beam nearby the Henley Bridge in St. Catharines. This caused two Union Jacks to swing out, revealing a sign which read The Queen Elizabeth Way. [33]

    However, the ceremony designated the highway only between St. Catharines and Niagara Falls. The remainder of the road was known by various names, including the Toronto–Burlington/Hamilton Highway and The New Middle Road Highway. At the formal opening of the highway between Toronto and Niagara Falls on August 23, 1940, the entire length was declared The Queen Elizabeth Way by Thomas McQueston. [33]

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Etobicoke</span> District of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Etobicoke is an administrative district and former city within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the east by the Humber River, on the west by Etobicoke Creek, the cities of Brampton, and Mississauga, the Toronto Pearson International Airport, and on the north by the city of Vaughan at Steeles Avenue West.

    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 in Toronto. The physical highway, however, 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.

    The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, commonly known as the Gardiner Expressway or simply the Gardiner, is a partially at grade and elevated municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario, it extends from the foot of the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) in the east, just past the mouth of the Don River, to the junction of Highway 427 and the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) in the west, for a total length of 18.0 kilometres (11.2 mi). East of Dufferin Street to just east of the Don River, the roadway is elevated for a length of 6.8 kilometres (4.2 mi), unofficially making it the longest bridge in Ontario. It runs above Lake Shore Boulevard east of Spadina Avenue.

    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 —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.

    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.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Ontario Highway 2</span> Former Ontario provincial highway

    King's Highway 2, commonly referred to as Highway 2, is the lowest-numbered provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario, and was originally part of a series of identically numbered highways which started in Windsor, stretched through Quebec and New Brunswick, and ended in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Prior to the 1990s, Highway 2 travelled through many of the major cities in Southern Ontario, including Windsor, Chatham, London, Brantford, Hamilton, Burlington, Mississauga, Toronto, Oshawa, Belleville, Kingston and Cornwall, amongst many other smaller towns and communities.

    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 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.

    King's Highway 27, commonly referred to as Highway 27, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario, much of which is now cared for by the city of Toronto, York Region and Simcoe County. The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario was once responsible for the length of the route, when it ran from Long Branch to Highway 93 in Waverley. Highway 27 followed a mostly straight route throughout its length, as it passed through the suburbs of Toronto, then north of Kleinburg the vast majority of the highway was surrounded by rural farmland. Today, only the southernmost 1.6 km (1 mi) from Highway 427 north to Mimico Creek is under provincial jurisdiction.

    King's Highway 2A, commonly referred to as Highway 2A, was the designation of five separate provincially maintained highways in the Canadian province of Ontario. Highway 2A was an alternate route to Highway 2 in Chatham, London and Cornwall; these routes were all eventually redesignated. Highway 2A was also a highway that extended from Windsor to Tilbury, which was redesignated as Highway 98 in 1938.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Shore Boulevard</span> Street in Toronto

    Lake Shore Boulevard is a major arterial road running along more than half of the Lake Ontario waterfront in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Prior to 1998, two segments of Lake Shore Boulevard were designated as part of Highway 2, with the highway following the Gardiner Expressway between these two sections.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">The Queensway</span> Road in Toronto and Mississauga in Ontario, Canada

    The Queensway is a major street in the municipalities of Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is a western continuation of Queen Street, after it crosses Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in Toronto. The Queensway is a divided roadway from Roncevalles westerly until 600 metres of the South Kingsway with its centre median dedicated to streetcar service. The road continues undivided west from there to Etobicoke Creek as a four- or six-lane thoroughfare.

    King's Highway 5, commonly referred to as Highway 5 and historically as the Dundas Highway and Governor's Road, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The east–west highway travels a distance of 12.7 km (7.9 mi) between Highway 8 at Peters Corners, north of Hamilton, and Highway 6 at Clappison's Corners. Prior to several sections being downloaded to the municipalities in which they were located, Highway 5 served as bypass to Highway 2, connecting with it in both Paris and Toronto, a distance of 114.3 km (71.0 mi).

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">The Queensway–Humber Bay</span> Neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    The Queensway–Humber Bay, known officially as Stonegate–Queensway, is a neighbourhood in the southwest of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the southeast area of the former City of Etobicoke.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Elizabeth Way Monument</span> Canadian monument

    The Queen Elizabeth Way Monument, also known as the Lion Monument and as the Loring Lion, is an Art Deco monument located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 1939–1940 monument honouring Queen Elizabeth was built as a decorative marker monument for the Toronto entrance to the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) highway.

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

    Lakeshore Road is a historic roadway in the Canadian province of Ontario, running through the city of Burlington and the town of Oakville in Halton Region, as well as the city of Mississauga in Peel Region. As its name implies, the road closely follows the shoreline of Lake Ontario, although the lake itself is not visible from the road in most areas. Lakeshore Road was once a key section of the historic Highway 2, which traversed the province, but has since been downloaded to local municipalities. Despite this historical role as a major route, however, most of the road is a lower-capacity picturesque residential and historic commercial street with only two through lanes until it becomes a four-lane, higher-volume artery after it enters Mississauga and jogs to the north.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Dundas Street</span> Major arterial road in Ontario, Canada

    Dundas Street is a major historic arterial road in Ontario, Canada. The road connects the city of Toronto with its western suburbs and several cities in southwestern Ontario. Three provincial highways—2, 5, and 99—followed long sections of its course, although these highway segments have since been downloaded to the municipalities they passed through. Originally intended as a military route to connect the shipping port of York to the envisioned future capital of London, Ontario, the street today connects Toronto landmarks such as Yonge–Dundas Square and the city's principal Chinatown to rural villages and the regional centres of Hamilton and London.

    References

    Notes
    1. ↑ While the Long Island Parkway and several similar roadways opened in the late twenties and early thirties, these parkways were designed to move traffic in and out of a city's downtown. The Middle Road was designed to provide travel between cities, and opened a year before the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the first U.S. highway to do this.
    2. ↑ Shragge indicates three to ten feet on page 79, consistent with the minimum of one metre given by Stamp on page 20, but far less than the maximum of nine metres.
    3. ↑ Stamp also writes on page 20 that construction on the cloverleaf began in 1937. Shragge also indicates it opened in 1937 on page 81.
    Sources
    1. 1 2 3 Shragge p. 79
    2. ↑ Shragge p. 95 "as geography professor, E.G. Pleva, of the University of Western Ontario stated: ‘Highway 401 is the most important single development changing the social and economic pattern of Ontario. It is still transforming the province's economy and the social, work and spending habits of its people.’"
    3. ↑ David L. Pollard (August 1991). "A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SHERIDAN POLLARDS IN WHAT IS NOW PEEL, HALTON AND TORONTO, ONTARIO" (TXT). Pollard.ca. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
    4. ↑ Stamp p. 13
    5. ↑ Stamp p. 50
    6. ↑ Stamp p. 24
    7. ↑ Shragge p.81
    8. ↑ Stamp p. 25
    9. ↑ Stamp p.
    10. ↑ Ontario Heritage Bridge Guidelines (PDF) (Report). Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. January 11, 2008. pp. 41–42. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 27, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
    11. ↑ Cook, Dave. "History of Our Community – Middle Road Bridge". Sherway Homeowners & Recreational Association. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
    12. ↑ Frank Barber (1909). "CONCRETE TRUSS BRIDGE: THE FIRST IN CANADA". Canadian Engineer. 17: 567.
    13. ↑ "More Conflagrarion". Toronto Globe. Toronto. June 1, 1852. p. 266.
    14. ↑ "Etobicoke Township Council". Toronto Globe. Toronto. November 12, 1877. p. 4.
    15. ↑ "Dissection". Toronto Globe. Toronto. January 26, 1889. p. 4.
    16. ↑ "New Idea in Bridges". Toronto Globe. Toronto. October 28, 1909. p. 13.
    17. ↑ The Toronto World (January 22, 1914). "Toronto–Hamilton Highway Proposed". Vol. 34, no. 12125. p. 14. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
    18. ↑ Shragge p. 55
    19. ↑ The Toronto World (October 26, 1914). "Council Meets Today To Pass Agreement". Vol. 34, no. 12402. p. 3. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
    20. ↑ Shragge p. 55 "...the Toronto-to-Hamilton highway which, when completed in 1917, was both Ontario's first concrete highway and one of the longest such inter-city stretches in the world."
    21. ↑ Shragge, John G. (2007). "Story Archive" . Retrieved February 24, 2010.
    22. ↑ Toronto World (June 26, 1920). "Increased Volume of Traffic". Vol. 40, no. 14472. p. 7. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
    23. ↑ Filey, Mike (1994). Toronto sketches 3: the way we were . Dundurn Press. ISBN   1-55002-227-X . Retrieved February 10, 2010. Some Superhighway History.
    24. ↑ The Gazette (October 16, 1931). "Tenders Called For". Vol. 160, no. 255. Montreal. p. 15. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
    25. ↑ "Etobicoke Township map (Enlarge and zoom into bottom quarter of map, northwest of Mimico, to see jog)". The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project. McGill University.
    26. ↑ Shragge, John G. (2007). "Highway 401 – The story". Archived from the original on March 28, 2008. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
    27. ↑ Stamp pp. 19–20
    28. ↑ Canadian Press (February 18, 1936). "Hopes to Improve Roads". Vol. 165, no. 42. Montreal: The Gazette. p. 14. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
    29. ↑ English, Bob (March 16, 2006). "Remember that 'little four-lane freeway?'". Toronto: Globe And Mail. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved February 9, 2010. ...the freeway concept was promoted by Hamiltonian Thomas B. McQuesten, then the highway minister. The Queen Elizabeth Way was already under construction, but McQuesten changed it into a dual-lane divided highway, based on Germany's new autobahns.
    30. ↑ Smith pp. 11–12
    31. ↑ © Archives of Ontario – Series RG-14-162-3 Photo #3262S (via Cameron Bevers). "Photographic History of The Queen Elizabeth Way (1940 Photo of new QEW route and old link to Queen St.)". www.onthighways.com.[ self-published source ]
    32. ↑ "Ontario To Bar All Gas Stands On Speedways". The Gazette. Vol. 167, no. 214. Montreal. September 7, 1938. pp. 1, 19. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
    33. 1 2 Filey, Mike (June 6, 2010). "A royal trip around T.O.". Life. The Toronto Sun. p. 37.
    Bibliography
    This page is based on this Wikipedia article
    Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
    Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.