Queen Elizabeth Way
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| Queen Elizabeth Way |
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| Length: | 139 km (86 miles) |
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| Formed: | 1939 |
| Direction: | Semi-circular |
| From: | Fort Erie, Ontario |
| To: | Toronto, Ontario |
| Major cities: | Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Mississauga |
The Queen Elizabeth Way (commonly referred to as the QEW, Q, QE, or Queen-E) is a vital 400-Series freeway in Ontario, Canada. It links Buffalo, New York, USA and the Niagara Peninsula with Toronto and its western suburbs. The freeway starts at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie, Ontario and continues 139 km (86 miles) through Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville and Mississauga before ending at the junction of Highway 427 and the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto. The QEW is one of Ontario's busier highways with over 200,000 average trips per day.
Major freeway junctions are located at Highway 420, Highway 405, Highway 406, Highway 403 in Burlington, Highway 407, Highway 403 in Oakville and Highway 427. A section of QEW through Halton Region (exits 101 through 123) has been concurrently signed with Highway 403 since 2002.
The Queen Elizabeth Way originally started as a divided-highway upgrade of the Middle Road through what is now Halton and Peel Region in 1936. At the time, the Middle Road was one of the first examples of a divided highway anywhere in the world, and it was the forerunner to the current superhighway. Various upgrades during the 1940s and 1950s brought the Queen Elizabeth Way up to modern freeway standards between Toronto and Hamilton, and later over its entire length.
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[edit] Name and signage
The QEW is not referred to by any route number, and many wrongly think of it as Ontario's hidden Highway 1.[citation needed] However, although never signed, the QEW does have the secret designation of Highway 451, meaning that it is both the oldest member of the 400-series highway network and has the highest King's Highway number. (In planning documents in the 1940s, the QEW was also referred to as Highway 402, although that number was later given to another highway.) The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) uses the Highway 451 designation internally to track highway contracts and maintenance. The number "451" was chosen presumably because, at the time, it was unlikely that so many 400-series highways would be built that MTO would go through numbers 400-450. In addition, no Highway 51 existed at the time, and the only Highway 51 was a short connector road between Highway 3 and Rondeau Provincial Park located in Chatham-Kent so there is no concern over the number being assigned to a 400-series "upgrade" highway (like Highway 410 or Highway 427).
The highway was not named for Queen Elizabeth I or Queen Elizabeth II, but for the Queen Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mother) who was married to King George VI. In 1939 King George and Queen Elizabeth made a tour of Canada to celebrate his coronation and make themselves known to their Canadian subjects.
The signs identifying the highway originally showed its full name only in small letters, with large script letters ER (for Elizabeth Regina, or Queen Elizabeth in Latin) where the highway number would go on other signs. Confused tourists from the U.S. believed that "ER" was named for Eleanor Roosevelt, the President's wife at the time.[citation needed] In 1955 these were replaced by QEW signs similar to Ontario's usual "King's Highway" signs, but with blue lettering on a yellow background instead of the usual black on white (trailblazer shields, indicating routes "to" QEW, switch the colours to yellow on blue).
Because the highway curves sharply around the end of Lake Ontario, its directions are not signed with compass points as usual with other 400-series highways, but with destination cities. QEW Toronto is used consistently for the direction toward Toronto. In the other direction, the highway is signed QEW Hamilton from Toronto as far as Hamilton, QEW Niagara as far as Niagara Falls, and QEW Fort Erie thereafter.
[edit] Hamilton-Niagara section
The Queen Elizabeth Way originally ran from Toronto to the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. In the 1950s, a second branch was constructed, starting from a traffic circle near Niagara Falls and extending south on the present route to Fort Erie. The original route, now a spur, was still designated as part of the QEW until 1972 when it was reconstructed and relabeled as Highway 420.
In 1960, the original section of the QEW west of Guelph Line was relocated on a new alignment known as the Freeman Diversion which improved access to the proposed Burlington Skyway and allowed the Freeman Interchange (a "semi-directional T" interchange) to be constructed with the future Highway 403. The old bypassed segment was renamed Plains Road (which was never a freeway and is now a minor arterial road) and the new QEW branched off from it in a Y-junction partial interchange.
High-level bridges were constructed at Hamilton Harbour (the Burlington Bay James N. Allan Skyway) and the Welland Canal in St. Catharines (the Garden City Skyway) in the 1960s to allow free movement of traffic without the need to stop for drawbridges; tolls on these bridges were eventually removed.
In 1978, the familiar Stoney Creek traffic circle with Highway 20 Centennial Parkway was removed in favour of a conventional parclo interchange.
To meet growing demand, the Burlington Skyway was twinned in the year 1985. Concurrently, the QEW from Burlington Street to Highway 403 (Burlington) was reconstructed with 8 lanes, a variable lighting system, state-of-the-art changeable message signs and traffic cameras, and modern parclo interchanges with Burlington Street, Northshore Boulevard, and Fairview Street.
In the early to late 1990s, the Freeman Interchange was reconfigured to accommodate Highway 407, and an interchange was added at Brant Street. In 2000–2001, QEW was widened to 6 lanes from Brant Street to Guelph Line and access to Plains Road was removed. In 2004-2005, the Guelph Line interchange was reconstructed.
In 2000, the British-style roundabout junction with Erin Mills Parkway, which dated back to the early 1960s, was completely reconstructed as a standard parclo A4 interchange.
As part of the Red Hill Valley Parkway currently under construction, the Burlington Street and Centennial Parkway interchanges are currently being reconstructed, including the construction of collector lanes on the south (Niagara-bound) side of the highway.
The QEW is also well known for its vintage highway architecture, which is slowly being replaced as the highway is upgraded through St. Catharines and Niagara Falls. An original 1936 rail overpass at Sandplant Hill in Niagara Falls was slowly removed in 2005 and 2006, and completely replaced in late 2006 (the process was gradual to maintain rail traffic). The 1937-vintage Martindale Road overpass in St. Catharines is due to be replaced in 2007.
[edit] Mississauga-Toronto section
The QEW was called the Middle Road from 1936 to 1939 as a highway connecting Hamilton with Toronto. The QEW formerly continued beyond Highway 427 to the old Toronto city limits at the Humber River; this section was downloaded from provincial to municipal ownership in 1997, and became part of the Gardiner Expressway. A monument was originally located at the highway's Toronto terminus, dedicated to the 1939 visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and consisted of a column with a crown at the top and a lion at the base. The monument was moved in the mid 1970s in order to accommodate widening of the original QEW, and is now located in the nearby Sir Casimir Gzowski Park along Lake Ontario, on the east side of the Humber River.
The late-1960s widening project coincided with the construction of the complex interchange with Highway 427 (formerly Highway 27) and resulted in an 8 to 10 lane QEW stretching to the Humber River, with a short collector-express system serving Kipling Avenue and Islington Avenue. Ramp meters were also added to traffic entering the Toronto-bound lanes from Ford Drive to Cawthra Road in 1975. These meters are only activated during the morning rush hour.
This section has changed little since it was downloaded to Toronto. Since the end of 2003, the conventional truss lighting poles from the late 1960s have been replaced west of Kipling Avenue and east of Royal York Road, in favour of shaded high-mast lighting like that of the Don Valley Parkway.
[edit] Today
Today, the QEW is a full four- to eight-lane freeway running through the heart of Ontario's tourist region. Construction is currently underway to widen the highway from four to six lanes through all of St. Catharines and Niagara Falls as well as a full eight to ten-lane widening though Halton Region. Due to increased traffic volumes and environmental issues throughout the Niagara Region, plans are underway to construct Mid-Peninsula Highway to bypass the QEW, running from Fort Erie through Welland ending in Burlington at Highway 407.
[edit] Future
The Ministry's future plans are to add HOV or car pool lanes on the QEW/403 in the sections from Toronto to Hamilton. The MTO is making plans to widen the stretch from Bronte Creek and Sixteen Mile Creek in Oakville to prepare for future HOV lanes. Tenders have been awarded, and new structures on the north side of the existing bridges are under construction. [1]
[edit] Trivia
- Ontario’s only other 400-series highway to have had a unique provincial highway shield with letters instead of a number is Highway 401, which is designated concurrently as the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway. "M-C" shields used to be a common sight along the highway, but the MTO has been phasing them out since the late 1990s.
[edit] Control cities
Due to its very circular direction around the western edge of Lake Ontario, instead of cardinal direction (such as "north" or "east"), cities ("Toronto" and "Fort Erie") are used.
[edit] Volume information (2005)
- Highest volume: 175,200 AADT from Dixie Road (Exit 136) to Evans Avenue (Exit 138)
- Lowest volume: 17,900 AADT Concession Road (Exit 1) to Thompson Road (Exit 2)
[edit] Lane configurations from Fort Erie to Toronto
| Section | Travel Lanes |
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| Peace Bridge to Thompson Road | 3-4 lanes in each direction |
| Thompson Road to Mountain Road (Niagara Road 101) | 2 lanes in each direction 1 additional lane per direction currently under planning |
| Mountain Road to Highway 405 | 2 lanes in each direction 1 additional lane per direction currently under construction |
| Highway 405 to Niagara Street (Niagara Road 48)/Service Road | 3 lanes in each direction |
| Niagara Street/Service Road to Highway 406 | 2 lanes in each direction 1 additional lane per direction currently under construction |
| Highway 406 to Woodward Avenue | 3 lanes in each direction |
| Woodward Avenue to North Shore Boulevard/Eastport Drive | 4 lanes in each direction |
| North Shore Boulevard/Eastport Drive to Fairview Street/Plains Road | 4 lanes in each direction |
| Fairview Street/Plains Road to Brant Street | 2 lanes in each direction (through QEW-403-407 Freeman Interchange) |
| Brant Street to Guelph Line | 3 lanes in each direction |
| Guelph Line to Trafalgar Road | 3 lanes in each direction 2 additional mainline or 1 additional mainline and 1 HOV lane per direction currently under planning |
| Trafalgar Road to Highway 403 East | 4 lanes in each direction |
| Highway 403 East to Highway 427 | 3 lanes in each direction |
[edit] Exit list
Exits are numbered from south (Fort Erie) to north (Toronto).
| Municipality | # | Destinations | Coordinates | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Peace Bridge. Junction  Interstate 190. |
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| Fort Erie |  Highway 3; Niagara Regional Road 124 - Fort Erie; Windsor; Crystal Beach; Central Avenue |
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| Fort Erie | 1 | Concession Road (Niagara Regional Road 126) | northbound exit and southbound entrance; split into 1A (north) and 1B (south) | |
| Fort Erie | 2 | Thompson Road south (Niagara Regional Road 122) | northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
| Fort Erie | 2 | Bertie Street; Central Avenue (Niagara Regional Road 17; Niagara Regional Road 122) | southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
| Fort Erie | 5 | Niagara Regional Road 19 - Gilmore Road | ||
| Fort Erie | 7 | Niagara Regional Road 21 - Bowen Road; Stevensville | ||
| Fort Erie Niagara Falls |
12 | Niagara Regional Road 25 - Netherby Road; Welland; Stevensville | ||
| Niagara Falls | 16 | Niagara Regional Road 116 - Sodom Road; Chippawa; Crystal Beach | ||
| Niagara Falls | 21 | Niagara Regional Road 47 - Lyons Creek Road; Chippawa; Welland | ||
| Niagara Falls | 27 | Niagara Regional Road 49 - McLeod Road | ||
| Niagara Falls | 30 |  Highway 420;  Highway 20 - Niagara Falls; Bridge to U.S.A.; Lundy's Lane |
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| Niagara Falls | 32 | Niagara Regional Road 57 - Thorold Stone Road; Thorold | ||
| Niagara Falls | 34 | Niagara Regional Road 101 - Mountain Road | ||
| Niagara-on-the-Lake | 37 |  Highway 405 - Queenston; Lewiston, NY |
southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
| Niagara-on-the-Lake | 38 | Niagara Regional Road 89; Niagara Regional Road 55 - Glendale Avenue; Niagara Stone Road; Niagara-on-the-Lake (formerly Highway 55) | split into 38A (RR 89) and 38B (RR 55) southbound | |
| Niagara-on-the-Lake St. Catharines |
Garden City Skyway (Welland Canal) | |||
| St. Catharines | 44 | Niagara Regional Road 48 - Niagara Street; Service Road | ||
| St. Catharines | 46 | Niagara Regional Road 44 - Lake Street | ||
| St. Catharines | 47 | Niagara Regional Road 42 - Ontario Street | ||
| St. Catharines | 48 | Niagara Regional Road 38 - Martindale Road | northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
| St. Catharines | 49 | Third Street; North Service Road | northbound exit and southbound entrance; combined with Highway 406 exit | |
| St. Catharines | 49 |  Highway 406 - Thorold; Welland; Port Colborne |
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| St. Catharines | 51 | Niagara Regional Road 34 - Seventh Street | ||
| Lincoln | 55 | Niagara Regional Road 26 - Jordan Road | ||
| Lincoln | 57 | Niagara Regional Road 24 - Victoria Avenue; Vineland | ||
| Lincoln | 64 | Niagara Regional Road 18 - Ontario Street; Beamsville | ||
| Grimsby | 68 | Niagara Regional Road 14 - Bartlett Avenue | ||
| Grimsby | 71 | Niagara Regional Road 12 - Maple Avenue; Ontario Street; Christie Street | ||
| Grimsby | 74 | Niagara Regional Road 10 - Casablanca Boulevard | ||
| Hamilton | 78 | Hamilton Regional Road 450 - Fifty Road | ||
| Hamilton | 83 | Hamilton Regional Road 455 - Fruitland Road | ||
| Hamilton | 88 | Highway 20 - Centennial Parkway; Hamilton; South Service Road |
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| Hamilton | 89 | Burlington Street | Red Hill Valley Parkway under construction | |
| Hamilton | 90 | Woodward Avenue | southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
| Hamilton | 93 | Eastport Drive | northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
| Hamilton Burlington |
Burlington Skyway (Burlington Bay) | |||
| Burlington | 97 |  Highway 2 - North Shore Boulevard; Eastport Drive |
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| Burlington | 99 | Plains Road; Fairview Street | northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
| Burlington | 100 |  Highway 403 west - Hamilton; Brantford |
Highway 403 joins northbound and leaves southbound | |
| Burlington | 100 |  Highway 407 east |
northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
| Burlington | 101 | Brant Street | southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
| Burlington | 102 | Halton Regional Road 1 - Guelph Line | ||
| Burlington | 105 | Walkers Line | ||
| Burlington | 107 | Appleby Line | ||
| Burlington Oakville |
109 | Burloak Drive | ||
| Oakville | 110 | Service Road | southbound exit only | |
| Oakville | 111 | Halton Regional Road 25 - Bronte Road (formerly  ); Milton |
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| Oakville | 113 | Third Line Road | ||
| Oakville | 116 | Dorval Drive | ||
| Oakville | 117 | Kerr Street | southbound exit only | |
| Oakville | 118 | Halton Regional Road 3 - Trafalgar Road | ||
| Oakville | 119 | Royal Windsor Drive | northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
| Oakville | 123 | Ford Drive | northbound exit is combined with Highway 403 exit | |
| Oakville | Highway 403 east to  Highway 401 - Toronto |
northbound exit and southbound entrance; Highway 403 joins southbound and leaves northbound | ||
| Oakville Mississauga |
124 | Peel Regional Road 19 - Winston Churchill Boulevard | ||
| Mississauga | 126 | Peel Regional Road 1 - Southdown Road; Erin Mills Parkway | ||
| Mississauga | 130 | Mississauga Road | ||
| Mississauga | 132 |  (Former) Highway 10 - Hurontario Street |
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| Mississauga | 134 | Peel Regional Road 17 - Cawthra Road | ||
| Mississauga | 136 | Peel Regional Road 4 - Dixie Road | southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
| Toronto | 138 | Evans Avenue; West Mall; Brown's Line | southbound exit is combined with exit 139 | |
| Toronto | 139 |  Highway 427 to Highway 401 - Toronto Pearson International Airport |
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[edit] See also
- Gardiner Expressway: incorporates former parts of the Queen Elizabeth Way
- Monarchy in Ontario
[edit] External links
- Ontario Ministry of Transportation
- Live QEW Traffic Cameras through Hamilton, Halton Region and Peel Region
- Live QEW Traffic Cameras through St. Catharines and Niagara Falls
- QEW History at TheKingsHighway.ca
| 400-series highways of Ontario | ||
|---|---|---|
| Highways | 400 · 401 · 402 · 403 · 404 · 405 · 406 · 407 ETR · 409 · 410 · 416 · 417 · 420 · 427 · QEW (451) |  |
| Proposed | 424 · Mid-Peninsula Highway · Bradford Bypass | |
| See also | List of Ontario provincial highways · List of Ontario expressways | |
