Highbury Avenue
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 a 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. It then continues north as a four-lane arterial street through the rest of London.
At approximately Fanshawe Park Road, Highbury Avenue continues north from London as a two-lane highway (Middlesex County Road 23), where it ends at Elginfield Road Highway 7.
In the year 2007 the portion of Highbury Avenue between Wilton Grove Road and Dingman Drive was extensively rebuilt. This included an enlarged intersection at Wilton Grove and Highbury with more turning lanes and a new left-turn lane for Highbury northbound to travel west onto Green Valley Drive.
[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 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 Avenue | 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.
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