[16], Near Tilbury, Highway 401 loses its tall wall median barrier and narrows to four lanes, following lot lines laid between concession roads in a plan designed to limit damage to the sensitive agricultural lands through which the highway runs. Peter Heiler Ltd (2010), p. 69, section S73–T74. and the eastbound ramps in mid-2009. Highway 401 Class Environmental Assessment and Preliminary Design from Salem Road to Brock Street. Twelve lanes pass beneath a complicated interchange with Allen Road, built to serve the cancelled Spadina Expressway. On August 24, 2007, the portion of the highway between Glen Miller Road in Trenton and the Don Valley Parkway / Highway 404 Junction in Toronto was designated the Highway of Heroes, as the road is travelled by funeral convoys for fallen Canadian Forces personnel from CFB Trenton to the coroner's office in Toronto. The Department of Highways Fiscal Report for the year ending March 31, 1952, claims "Controlled Access Highways nos. [50], East of Ajax, the highway passes through the second 3.5 km (2.1 mi) rural gap, and enters Whitby. Just east of Cobourg, the highway narrows to four lanes and the terrain becomes undulating, with the highway routed around hills and through valleys along the shores of Lake Ontario. [78] [161] Two bridges have been widened in advance of an eventual widening to six lanes of the highway including the bridges over the Trent River in Trenton,[184] as well as the Salmon River bridge between Belleville and Napanee. La frontière entre l'Ontario et le Québec est un segment de frontière séparant les provinces de l'Ontario et du Québec au Canada. It has a coastline to Hudson Bay to the north, and is bathed with freshwater lakes to the south. In anticipation of the future expansion of the highway, the transportation ministry purchased a 91.4-metre-wide (300 ft) right-of-way along the entire length. Famous quotes containing the words exit and/or list: “ Exit the mental moonlight, exit lex, Rex and principium, exit the whole Shebang. This included replacing the original Wellington Road overpass. Ghostly roadways, Quebec border checks continue, weekend road work Back to video On Wednesday, Quebec enacted new travel restrictions aimed at fighting the spread of the virus. Learn how to create your own. Victim identified in fatal six-vehicle Hwy. The expressway between Highland Creek and Oshawa was completed in December 1947,[8] while other sections languished. All portions of this expansion will include an HOV lane,[177] and construction is currently underway. [175] Construction to widen the highway to a collector–express system from west of Hurontario Street to the Credit River is nearing completion. The total distance from the Canadian Border at the 1000 Islands Bridge to the Ontario-Quebec Provincial Border via Hwy 401 is aprox 170 Kms (105 Miles) and about 2 Hours Driving Time* *NOTE – Driving Time is just that… time spent driving. Following the announcement on August 24, the provincial government and MTO set out to design new signs. Highway 401 is often congested in this section, with an average of 442,900 vehicles passing between Weston Road and Highway 400 per day as of 2008. Herb Gray Parkway", in honour of the Right Honourable Herb Gray, a Member of Parliament from Windsor. In 1963, transportation minister Charles MacNaughton announced the widening of Highway 401 in Toronto from four to a minimum of 12 lanes between Islington Avenue and Markham Road. In 2011, construction began on a westward extension called the "Rt. 401 Will Be Renamed 'Highway of Heroes' to Honour Soldiers", https://www.northumberlandnews.com/news-story/3767038--highway-of-heroes-began-in-cobourg/, "Highway of Heroes: Let's make it official", "Section of 401 to be renamed for fallen", "Evacuees begin returning home after fireball consumes Toronto propane plant", "Highway 401 Reopens Following Propane Facility Blast", "Province buying up land for 401 extension", "Couple worries new parkway will surround their home", "Border transportation partnership reaches milestone", "Ambassador Bridge boss sues Canada, U.S.", "Sierra Club, bridge lose bid to derail DRIC", "The DRIC Announces Preferred Access Road", "Gray 'Moved' by Tribute to Name Parkway in his Honour", "Herb Gray Parkway Opening This Weekend to Traffic", "Highway 401 Section of the New Rt. [1] The gap between Marysville and Kingston was opened by 1962. [16] This area is not as flat but the highway is generally straight. [41] Share on Twitter. That stretch of highway remained closed for several hours while police and investigators went … [8] Service centres along Highway 401 were first announced in 1961 following public outcry over the lack of rest stops. Highway 401 rejoins the Thousand Islands Parkway immediately southwest of Brockville, now heading northeast. [29][30] Beyond Highway/Regional Road 24, the highway returns to a six-lane cross section and meanders towards Milton, passing through hills and rock cuts along the way. [95] To support this widening, all of the original overpasses dating back in the 1940s and 1950s built through Whitby and Oshawa will be replaced with new overpasses as part of modern highway safety standards and to allow for a future highway widening.[183]. Anyone trying to get into Quebec from Highway 63 in Temiscaming or further … the Highland Creek to Oshawa expressway and Highway 2S were designated Controlled-Access Highway No 401,[8] a move scorned by one critic because of the lack of thought given to the numbered name. These three sections of highway were 11.8, 54.7 and 41.2 km, (7.3, 34.0 and 25.6 mi), respectively. [34], Highway 401 in central Toronto; the North York skyline is visible in the distance. The first set is 6.6 km (4.1 mi) long and connects Highway 403, Highway 410 and Highway 427. Dozens of vehicles, including several semi-trailers, quickly crashed into each other shortly after 8 a.m., one following another in the dense fog, and the accumulating wreckage caught traffic travelling in the opposite direction. Immediately following the crash, the MTO installed paved shoulders with rumble strips[124] [1][8] Ted Raymond [188], Cambridge North reopened June 25, 2013; Cambridge South reopened July 23, 2013. [74][75][76] The system was completed in 1972, along with the Highway 27 (renamed Highway 427) bypass between the QEW and Pearson Airport. Gatineau police set up checkpoints on interprovincial bridges and other roadways Wednesday in an unprecedented effort to enforce the province's new ban on non-essential travel into western Quebec. [8] The province has put in place an extensive plan to widen and reconstruct the London corridor between 2006 and 2021. At Trenton, the highway crosses the Trent Canal and returns to an agricultural setting. On September 27, 2013, the Highway of Heroes designation was extended west to Keele Street in Toronto, to coincide with the move of the coroner's office to the new Forensic Services and Coroner's Complex at the Humber River Hospital. [159] The "Bridging North America" consortium was selected to build the bridge in July 2018. Following initial tests, MACS was deployed at every inspection station along I-75 from Miami to Detroit, and along Highway 401 from Windsor to Belleville in 1994. [135], On August 10, 2008, following a series of explosions at a propane facility in Toronto, Highway 401 was closed between Highway 400 and Highway 404 as a precautionary measure, the largest closure of the highway in its history. [24], On August 24, 2007, the MTO announced the stretch of Highway 401 between Glen Miller Road in Trenton and the intersection of the Don Valley Parkway and Highway 404 in Toronto would bear the additional name Highway of Heroes (French: Autoroute des héros), in honour of Canadian soldiers who have died,[127] OTTAWA -- Ontario Provincial Police say eastbound lanes of Highway 401 have reopened after being closed at the Quebec border because of a “major collision and backup” Friday afternoon. as well as a dismissed lawsuit from Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun,[149][150] [116] Traffic congestion on Highway 401 east of Toronto. [81], Highway engineers evaluated factors such as grading, curve radius, and the narrow median used along the Middle Road—which was inaugurated on August 23, 1940 as the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW)[82]—and began to plan the course of a new dual highway mostly parallel to Highway 2, with precedence given to areas most hampered by congestion. Highway 401's widest segment has 18 through lanes, located near Toronto Pearson International Airport. 401 pile-up near Quebec border Back to video Kimberly Oosting, 32, of nearby Rivière-Beaudette, Que., was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. [6][7] The assessment was completed in March 2015. [156] [10], On January 11, 1965, at the dinner celebration of Sir John A. Macdonald's 150th birthday, the Premier of Ontario John Robarts designated Highway 401 the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway to honour Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier, two of Canada's Fathers of Confederation. Cobourg resident Ron Flindall was responsible for organizing the first bridge salutes following the loss of four soldiers on April 18, 2002. ", "Here's What's Happening With the Massive 410 Redesign", "Advantage I-75 Prepares to Cut Ribbon on Electronic Clearance", "Killer highway claims ten more car smash victims", "Cleanup continues after horrific highway crash", "Ontario puts more money into highways than ever before", "Upgrades, extra police planned for Canada 401", "Stretch of 401 to be renamed 'Highway of Heroes, 'Highway of Heroes' Signs Unveiled Along Highway 401, "Hwy. Fatal accident 401 west near Quebec-Ontario border. but Carnage Alley became predominant following an 87-vehicle pile-up on September 3, 1999 (the start of Labour Day weekend), the worst in Canadian history, that resulted in eight deaths and 45 injured individuals. By mid-1961, the section between Brighton and Marysville had opened. 401 Work", "Highway 401 Widening Work Starts Monday in Cambridge", "Highway 8 and Highway 401 Interchange Improvements", Ontario's Greenbelt in an International Context, "A Probabilistic Approach to Defining Freeway Capacity and Breakdown", "Systemwide Analysis of Freeway Improvements", "Highway 401 between the Highway 403 and 410 junction and Highway 427", "Highway 401 between Highway 409 and Brock Road", "Reduction of through-lanes on Highway 401 near Salem Road in Ajax", "Oshawa man frustrated by empty bridge during repatriations", "Notice of Construction at Hwy 401 in City of Oshawa and Bowmanville", "Highway 401 from Highway 35 / 115 junction to Cobourg", "Provincial Highway Traffic Volumes 1988–2010", "Highway 401 though Kitchener and Cambridge". The Canadian Shield, an ancient geological formation, appears through this heavily forested section of the highway. Two centres rebuilt in the late 1990s, specifically Newcastle and Ingersoll, were not redeveloped at that time. This was followed shortly thereafter by the widening of the highway through Ajax and a new interchange at Pickering Beach Road (renamed Salem Road) and Stevenson Road. According to Quebec 511, there are four separate crash sites within a two kilometer stretch of the freeway involving a total of eight tractor trailers and 12 other vehicles. [109], In 1993, the stretch of Highway 401 eastbound near Milton and westbound near Whitby had chevrons painted in each lane in an effort to reduce tailgating, a concept borrowed from France and Britain. As automobile use in southern Ontario grew in the early 20th century, road design and construction advanced significantly. The project included the installation of a tall-wall median barrier, straightening curves and adding additional interchanges on the freeway, allowing it to be easily vacated in an emergency event. [10] The 1980s saw more sections widened, as well as a new collector-express system between Highway 403 / 410 and Highway 427 completed in mid-1985. The MTO took advantage of this opportunity to extend Highway 401 to the Canada–US border and began an environmental impact assessment on the entire project in late 2005. which was the solution the Canadian Automobile Association promoted in 1999. A winter storm warning was issued Friday morning for the area where the crash happened. For other uses, see. It returns to its eastward route through Toronto, now carrying 12–16 lanes of traffic on four carriageways. To avoid confusion between carriageways, blue signs are used for the collector lanes and green signs for the express lanes. The expansive twelve-plus-lane collector–express system now existing from Pickering through Toronto partway across Mississauga, and is currently being extended west through Mississauga to Milton. The main river through the region is the Thames River, which drains the second largest watershed in southern Ontario and largely influences the land use surrounding the highway;[20] Though in Eastern Ontario the 401 is seldom more than five kilometres away from either the shores of either Lake Ontario or the Saint Lawrence River, motorists are very seldom treated to views of the waterway. Current Hwy-401 Ontario Road Conditions DOT Accident and Construction Reports Roadwork on CAN--USA National Border (I-81) from CR-191/Exit 52 (I-81) to Thousand Islands Brg S - I-81 S. The westbound ramps were opened in mid-September 2007[140] [22] Share via Text Message; Photo courtesy Facebook. [21] [2] [10] Ontario is bordered by the province of Manitoba to the west, Hudson Bay and James Bay to the north, and Quebec to the east and northeast, and to the south by the U.S. states of (from west to east) Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. A former Canadian National Railway overpass, which was fenced off but commonly used by pedestrians during Highway of Heroes repatriations, was demolished on the night of June 11, 2011. the replacement of the original gantries throughout the collector-express system,[179] and reconstructing the Highway 401 / 400 interchange.[180]. – The eastbound lanes of Highway 20 (what Highway 401 turns into when you hit the Quebec border) were closed after a multi-vehicle crash Friday. two lanes opened to Lancaster on September 11, 1962, but the other two were not completed until July 31, 1964. [15], In Southwestern Ontario, several improvements are under way to provide six lanes on Highway 401 from Windsor to Toronto,[161] The highway curves northeast and follows a power transmission corridor to Highway 409, which merges with the mainline and forms the collector lanes. Motorists were asked to use a detour via the local network. [13] The Kingston portion of the highway, originally named the Kingston-Bypass, was one of the first sections of the highway to be completed;[1] it is now mostly three lanes each way. Honourable Herb Gray Parkway (Windsor-Essex Parkway) web site, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ontario_Highway_401&oldid=994220590, Articles with dead external links from September 2017, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Average annual daily traffic counts of selected sections of Highway 401 over 47 years, E C Row Expressway to Essex County Road 42, Highway 8 / King Street to Highway 24 (Hespeler Road), Highway 24 (Hespeler Road) to West of Mavis Road, Salem Road to 4.5 km east of Baltimore Street, 4.5 km east of Baltimore Street to Frontenac County Road 38, Frontenac County Road 38 to Montreal Street, Number of through lanes on Highway 401 (excludes ongoing or planned widening projects), Will not be redeveloped at this time. This system primarily serves to accommodate and organize various traffic movements from the Highway 403 / 410 and Highway 427 interchanges along Highway 401, replacing an earlier plan that would have run Highway 403 directly to Eglinton Avenue and the never-built Richview Expressway. [28] Share on LinkedIn. The road was formally opened on November 24, 1917,[65][66] 5.5 m (18 ft) wide and nearly 64 km (40 mi) long. [40] Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. [187], Seventeen of the centres along Highway 401 have been reconstructed entirely. [12] Digital Multi-Skilled Journalist. [45] East of the interchange with Renforth Drive, the collector lanes diverge to become the on-ramps to Highway 427 northbound and southbound. The final sections, from west of Cornwall to Lancaster, were opened between 1962 and 1964;[95][97] [10] Construction west from Highway 27 began in late 1954,[89] In 2003, 38 years after Robarts' naming of the highway, a Member of Provincial Parliament attempted to get the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway highway name enshrined into law; the bill only passed first reading and was not enacted. [16] On February 8, 2008, the MTO announced it had begun purchasing property south of the E.C. L'Ontario compte quatorze postes frontaliers sur route, un traversier pour camions et quatre traversiers à passagers qui font le lien avec les États-Unis. [144] Continue to drive according to the weather conditions and #SeeSnowGoSlow. [86] by 2011 these plans had been expanded in scope to as far west as Hespeler Road in Cambridge.[174]. In winter, the area between Woodstock and Chatham is also subject to sudden snow squalls from lake-effect snow. While the plan initially called for construction to end in 1967, it continued for nearly a decade. [7], Highway 401 also features North America's busiest multi-structure bridge at Hogg's Hollow in Toronto. [56] The section from Windsor to London (especially west of Tilbury) has become known for deadly car accidents and pile-ups, earning it the nickname Carnage Alley. At present, Highway 401 begins as a six-lane freeway at the west end of the E. C. Row Expressway. The term became more commonplace following several deadly pileups during the 1990s. Ontario Highway 401 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Provincial Highway 401, also known by its official name of the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway and colloquially as the four-oh-one, is a freeway in the Canadian province of Ontario, stretching from Windsor to the Quebec border. Upon entering the town, it enters the first urbanized section of the GTA, passing through two rural areas between there and Oshawa. [2][7] In spite of this congestion, it is the primary commuting route in Toronto; over 50 percent of vehicles bound for downtown Toronto use the highway. [71], Beginning in 1935, McQuesten applied the concept of a dual-highway to several projects along Highway 2, including along Kingston Road in Scarborough Township. Motorists found the new road to be a convenient way of travelling across Toronto; this convenience helped influence the suburban shift in the city and continues to be a driving force of urban sprawl today.