Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Canadian Freeways

So ended up going up through Sarnia to Niagara.  This meant that I would hop on three different freeways (there might have been a couple more in between them). 
 King's Highway 402 is one of the original 400 series highways in Canada.  It was originally intended as the Canadian approach to the Blue Water Bridge and construction began in 1938 and was completed between 1946 to 1949.  In 1952, it was given the designation and was going to be extended to link up with the 401 in London, Ontario.  The full route was finally completed in 1982 which makes me believe that the Canadians had as much trouble establishing their freeways as we did ours.
 King's Highway 401 is officially known as the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway or unofficially the four oh one.  It stretches from Windsor at one end of Ontario to the extreme eastern end of Ontario.  It was originally proposed in 1914 but the concept of the divided highway didn't come until the 30's.  It was finally completed in 1967 (again much like our freeways).

This freeway could be considered as an extension of either I-75 or I-96 out of Michigan and as such connects Canada to major parts of the United States.  Probably somewhere it has an unofficial nickname as the NAFTA highway as well.  All I know is that it was pretty busy.
King's Highway 403 stretches from Woodstock to Burlington.  It was proposed in the 1950's and completed in the 1960's (shorter highway...less hassle I presume).

Although I didn't take a picture, but I also was on the QEW (Or Queen Elizabeth Way).  It goes from Toronto to the Canadian side of Buffalo.  It was built from 1931 to 1940.

No comments: