Highbury Avenue

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Highbury Avenue is an arterial road/expressway located in London and St. Thomas, Ontario.

For the citizens who live and work in both cities, Highbury Avenue is considered an essential commuter route between both cities and also to Highway 401 and Highway 402.

[edit] General Description

Highbury Avenue begins at South Edgeware Road in St. Thomas where it proceeds north as two lane highway (Elgin County Road 30) until Wilton Grove Road in London. From there it briefly becomes a four-lane, 4.5 km (2.8 miles) expressway north from Highway 401 to Hamilton Road, where it continues as an four-lane arterial street through the rest of London. Highbury Avenue then continues north from London as a two-lane highway (Middlesex County Road 23), where it ends at Ontario Provincial Highway 7 (Elginfield Road).

[edit] Expressway

The expressway portion was built in 1965. This road was originally planned to be completed as part of a network of expressways to serve London along the Thames River. However, local opposition led to this expressway portion of Highbury ending at Hamilton Road. The road was given provincial highway status as Highway 126. For a time the expressway portion of the road was unofficially named "George Wenige Expressway" after a former mayor of London, George Wenige. There were also plans to extend the expressway south to St. Thomas, but these plans were shelved.

In 1989, the interchange and extension at the intersection of Bradley Avenue and Highbury were completed. In 1991, responsibility for Highway 126 was transferred from the provincial government to the City of London. Later in 1994, the Highbury Avenue interchange and overpass at Highway 401 was reconstructed. The reconstruction led to the cloverleaf interchange being converted to a Parclo-A4 interchange configuration with traffic lights, no longer being completely controlled-access (freeway-to-freeway).

[edit] Interchanges from South to North

Municipality Kilometre Post Intersecting Road Direction
London 1A* Highway 401 East Northbound, Southbound
London 1B* Highway 401 West Northbound, Southbound
London 2 Bradley Ave. Northbound, Southbound
London 4 Commissioners Rd. E. Northbound, Southbound
London 5A Power Rd. Southbound
London 5/5B* Hamilton Rd. Northbound, Southbound
  • Exit numbers are not posted on Highbury Ave.
  • *Exit is at-grade intersection.