Queen Elizabeth Way

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Queen Elizabeth Way
Length:	139 km[1] (86.4 mi)
Formed:	1931-39[2]
Ft. Erie end:	Peace Bridge
Major junctions:	Hwy 405 near Niagara Falls Hwy 406 in St. Catharines Red Hill Valley Parkway in Hamilton Hwy 403 / Hwy 407 in Burlington Hwy 403 in Oakville Hwy 427 / Gardiner in Toronto
Toronto end:	Hwy 427 / Gardiner
Ontario provincial highways < Hwy 427 Hwy 502 > 400-series - County

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 kilometres (86 mi) 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 between Highway 27 and Highway 10 in 1931. At the time, the Middle Road was one of the first examples of a divided highway anywhere in North America,^[3] 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.

[edit] Name and signage

The Queen Elizabeth Way was not named for Queen Elizabeth I or II, but for the Queen Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mother) who was Queen Consort of 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 have always used blue lettering on a yellow background instead of the black-on-white of Ontario's usual King's Highway signs. They 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 (black-and-white photo here). In 1955 the lettering was changed to QEW. (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 on Canadian 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.

The QEW is not publicly referred to by any route number, but the MTO has referred to it as Highway 451 in annual reports.^[4] 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] Hamilton-Niagara section

Burlington Bay James N. Allan Skyway Bridge 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 redesignated Highway 420.

In 1958, 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 in 1958 (the Burlington Bay James N. Allan Skyway) and the Welland Canal in St. Catharines in 1963 (the Garden City Skyway) to allow free movement of traffic without the need to stop for drawbridges; tolls on these bridges were eventually removed in 1973.

In 1975, 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 newly opend in 2007, 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 2008.

[edit] Mississauga-Toronto section

The Toronto entrance to the QEW and the Queen Elizabeth Way Monument in 1940.

The QEW was called the Middle Road from 1931 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.

The 427–Humber section was downloaded by the province to Toronto in 1997, and was renamed as part of the Gardiner Expressway, so that the QEW now ends at Highway 427. The section has changed little since then. 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. Bilingual English-French signs were also removed and replaced with English-only signs.

[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 St. Catharines. 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 twinning of the existing bridges is under way.[1]

On August 14, 2007 the MTO confirmed that HOV lanes will be constructed in both directions between 3rd Line and Burloak Drive, which will eventually be extended to Trafalgar Road in the east and to Guelph Line in the west. Completion date is currently undetermined. There are similar plans for the QEW between Red Hill Valley Parkway and Highway 406.

[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

[edit] Exit list

Exits are numbered from south (Fort Erie) to north (Toronto).

Location	#	Destinations	Notes
Fort Erie
		To Hwy 3 / RR 124 (Central Avenue) – Fort Erie, Windsor, Crystal Beach
	1	Concession Road	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; signed as exits 1A (north) and 1B (south)
	2	Thompson Road south (RR 122)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	2	Bertie Street, Thompson Road (RR 122)	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	5	RR 19 (Gilmore Road)
	7	RR 21 (Bowen Road) – Stevensville
	12	RR 25 (Netherby Road) – Stevensville, Welland
Niagara Falls
	16	RR 116 (Sodom Road) – Chippawa, Stevensville, Crystal Beach
	21	RR 47 (Lyons Creek Road) – Chippawa, Welland
	27	RR 49 (McLeod Road) – Niagara Falls
	30	Hwy 420 / RR 20 (Lundy's Lane) / Dorchester Road – Niagara Falls, Rainbow Bridge to Niagara Falls, USA	Signed as exits 30A (Hwy 420) and 30B (RR 20) southbound
	32	RR 57 (Thorold Stone Road) – Thorold	Signed as exits 32A (east) and 32B (west)
	34	RR 101 (Mountain Road)
Niagara-on-the-Lake	37	Hwy 405 – Queenston	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	38	RR 89 (Glendale Avenue) – Niagara-on-the-Lake	Signed as extis 38A (RR 89) and 38B (RR 55) southbound
	Garden City Skyway over the Welland Canal
St. Catharines
	44	RR 48 (Niagara Street) / Service Road
	46	RR 44 (Lake Street)
	47	RR 42 (Ontario Street)
	48	RR 38 (Martindale Road)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	49	Hwy 406 / 3rd Street, North Service Road (RR 39) – Thorold, Welland, Port Colborne
	51	RR 34 (7th Street)
Lincoln	55	RR 26 (Jordan Road)
	57	RR 24 (Victoria Avenue) – Vineland
	64	RR 18 (Ontario Street) – Beamsville
Grimsby	68	RR 14 (Bartlett Avenue)
	71	RR 12 (Christie Street) / Maple Avenue, Ontario Street
	74	RR 10 (Casablanca Boulevard)
Hamilton	78	RR 450 (Fifty Road)
	83	RR 455 (Fruitland Road)
	88	RR 20 (Centennial Parkway) / South Service Road – Hamilton
		Red Hill Valley Parkway	Under construction
	89	Burlington Street
	90	Woodward Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	93	Eastport Drive	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Burlington Skyway over Burlington Bay
Burlington
	97	North Shore Boulevard, Eastport Drive	Former Hwy 2
	99	Plains Road, Fairview Street	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	100	Hwy 403 east / Hwy 407 – Hamilton, Brantford	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	100	Hwy 403 west – Hamilton, Brantford, Hamilton International Airport	South end of Hwy 403 overlap; southbound exit and northbound entrance
	101	RR 18 (Brant Street)	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	102	RR 1 (Guelph Line)
	105	Walkers Line
	107	RR 20 (Appleby Line)
	109	Burloak Drive (RR 21)
Oakville
	110	Service Road	Southbound exit only
	111	RR 25 (Bronte Road) – Milton
	113	3rd Line
	116	Dorval Drive (RR 17)
	117	Kerr Street	Southbound exit only
	118	RR 3 (Trafalgar Road)
	119	Royal Windsor Drive	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	123	Ford Drive (RR 13)	Northbound exit is part of the Hwy 403 exit
		Hwy 403 east to Hwy 401 – Toronto	North end of Hwy 403 overlap; northbound exit and southbound entrance
	124	RR 19 (Winston Churchill Boulevard)
Mississauga
	126	RR 1 (Southdown Road, Erin Mills Parkway)
	130	Mississauga Road
	132	Hurontario Street	Former Hwy 10
	134	RR 17 (Cawthra Road)
	136	RR 4 (Dixie Road)	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
Toronto	138	Evans Avenue, West Mall, Brown's Line	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	139	Hwy 427 to Hwy 401 – Pearson Airport	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		Gardiner Expressway - Toronto	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance

[edit] See also

• Gardiner Expressway: incorporates former parts of the Queen Elizabeth Way
• Golden horseshoe
• Monarchy in Ontario

[edit] References

[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
• Google Maps: QEW route