Ontario Highway 5

King's Highway 5, also known as Highway 5 and historically as the Dundas Highway, 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 Peter's Corners, north of Hamilton and Highway 6 at Clappison's Corners. Prior to several sections being downloaded to the municipalities in which they reside, Highway 5 served as bypass to Highway 2, connecting with it in both Paris and Scarborough, a distance of 114.3 km (71.0 mi).^[2]

Highway 5 followed a significant piece of the Governor's Road, one of two routes constructed under the orders of John Graves Simcoe during his short tenure as Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, the other being Yonge Street. The route was adopted into the provincial highway system in 1920 and numbered as Highway 5 in 1925.

Route description

Highway 5 serves as a short connector between Highway 8 in the west and Highway 6 in the east, essentially a continuation of Highway 8. This configuration comes as a result of the truncation of both highways. The removed sections were transferred to the jurisdiction of the City of Toronto, the City of Mississauga, the Regional Municipality of Halton, the City of Hamilton, the County of Brant, and Oxford County on January 1, 1998. Prior to that, Highway 5 followed a large portion of the Governors Road between Toronto and Paris.

The current route of Highway 5 is almost entirely straight and rural. It passes immediately to the north of the Niagara Escarpment, a World Biosphere Reserve. South of the escarpment is the town of Dundas, once a separate settlement that has recently become a suburb of Hamilton. Both lie on the western tip of Lake Ontario.

It begins at the southern end of Highway 8 in Peter's Corners, next to the junction with former Highway 52. To the west, the road is known as Hamilton Regional Road 5 and proceeds towards Paris. Proceeding east, it passes several houses before crossing a ravine. The highway divides a forest, then becomes surrounded by farm fields on either side. It crosses Spencer Creek as it approaches Brock Road. Spencer Creek plunges over the nearby escarpment at Webster's Falls. Continuing, Highway 5 passes north of several new subdivisions and returns to a farmland setting. It passes through the rural hamlet of Rock Chapel, and then curves to the left on its final approach to Highway 6. East of Highway 6, the road becomes Halton Regional Road 5, but is more commonly known as Dundas Street.

History

Original construction

Highway 5 was constructed as northerly alternative to Highway 2. The highway's eastern terminus was the intersection of Danforth Avenue and Kingston Road (formerly Highway 2), in the City of Toronto. The highway ran west from that point, along Danforth Avenue and Bloor Street in the City of Toronto and Dundas St. through Etobicoke, Mississauga, Oakville and Burlington. The western terminus is at the intersection of the former Highway 2 in Paris, Ontario.

Original route

From the western terminus in Paris, Ontario, through to the western boundary of Mississauga, the highway was largely a multi-lane rural road. Through Mississauga, Highway 5 is named Dundas Street, and is one of the busiest east-west routes in the city of nearly 700,000.

Highway 5 took on a very different description through most of Toronto. It has been described as Toronto's other "Main Street" (with Yonge Street being the primary "Main Street" of Toronto). With a very urban feel, the former highway, through most of the city, is traced underground by Toronto's only complete east-west subway line (Bloor-Danforth).

Shift of responsibility

In 1997, responsibility for portions of the highway were transferred from the province to the corresponding municipalities resulting in its current route. The former sections of the highway are now managed by the individual cities, towns, and counties they run through.

Major intersections

References

External links

• Google Maps of Highway 5