| Ontario Provincial Highway 400 |
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Information AboutOntario Provincial Highway 400 |
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The King's Highway 400, more commonly known as '''Highway 400''' or '''the 400''', is a key north-south 400-Series Highway linking Toronto to Central and Northern Ontario . As well, the route is the main route to cottages in Muskoka . Originally known as the Toronto-Barrie Highway, over the years the route has been widened and extended beyond Barrie to its current terminus in Parry Sound (and eventually its ultimate terminus in Sudbury ). The current length of the highway is 209 Km or 129 Miles South of Highway 401 , provincial control ends at the Maple Avenue overpass and Highway 400 turns into Black Creek Drive . Highway 400 had been completed up to Jane Street in 1966 (alongside the expansion of Highway 401 ) but plans to extend Highway 400 further south to the Gardiner Expressway had been shelved in the 1970s. Land for the Highway 400 extension was used to build the Black Creek Drive which was completed and transferred to Metro Toronto in 1982. The junction with Highway 401 is one of the earliest multi-level interchanges built when Highway 401 was widened to a collector-express system in 1967. Because the speed limit on Ontario freeways was raised in 1968 from 80 km/h (50 mph) to 112 km/h (70 mph) (later reduced to 100 km/h (65 mph) in 1976), it rendered this interchange obsolete shortly after its completion. There are several flyover ramps that are not designed to handle speeds that motorists are accustomed to; notably the 400 southbound to 401 westbound ramp which has seen several truck rollovers because of excessive speed, and in the opposite direction the 401 eastbound to 400 northbound ramp which has added rumble strips and a revised 50 km/h speed in order to allow drivers to safely navigate the sharp curve. Between Highway 401 and Highway 407 , Highway 400 is one of the widest highways in the Greater Toronto Area without a Collector-express system; the only full interchanges is with Finch Avenue. In the 1950s, that stretch was 4-6 lanes wide but a major reconstruction that ended in 1971 saw it widened to 10 lanes. In the 1990s, concurrent with the construction of Highway 407 , the section between Highway 401 and Finch Avenue was widened to 12 lanes and that project necessitated the demolition and reconstruction of the Sheppard Avenue overpass. The 1990s also saw the replacing of the 1960s conventional truss lights and metal guardrail with high-mast lighting and an "Ontario tall-wall" concrete median barrier. The 400- 407 junction is the only 4-way 4-level stack interchange in Ontario (during the Highway 407 design, similar 4-level interchanges were planned at Highway 410 and Highway 404 as well but they were scaled to cut costs). North of Highway 407, Highway 400 has been extensively reconstructed in the early 1990s to accommodate incoming Highway 407 traffic and there is a small collector-express system serving Highway 7 and Langstaff Road. In the early 2000s, the junctions with Rutherford Road and Major Mackenzie Drive were extensively reconstructed to modern Parclo A4 configurations, and a new partial interchange was added for Bass Pro Mills Drive in 2004 to accommodate the opening of the Vaughan Mills shopping centre. Highway 400 was one of the original 400-series freeways, along with the QEW , Highway 401 , and Highway 402 . The rural section between Vaughan and Barrie has many overpass bridges still in use that date back to the 1950s (most of which are substandard compared to most modern freeways, with clearances generally between 4.0m and 4.3m (between 13'3" and 14'3") in the outermost lane and several extremely narrow acceleration lanes), as well as some notable low standard interchange ramps such as at Canal Road (Exit 58), which is a 20 km/h (15 mph) RIRO entrance. .]] Highway 400's interchange with Highway 518 is the first and only interchange between a 400-series highway and a secondary highway in the province, but more will be built as the 400 is extended northwards. Uniquely, Highway 400 is pronounced as "Four-Hundred", while for other 400-series highways, Highway 401 is pronounced "Four-O-One" and Highway 427 is pronounced "Four-Twenty-Seven" or "Four-Two-Seven". EXPANSION Continued construction will eventually extend Highway 400 to the city of Greater Sudbury in Northern Ontario , along the existing Highway 69 corridor. This commitment was originally made in 1991 by the New Democrat government of Bob Rae . Although construction did commence at the highway's southern end, the project was curtailed by the Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris shortly after the 1995 Provincial Election , with construction ending at the highway's current terminus in Parry Sound . The continued construction to Sudbury was subsequently reinstated by Harris' successor (and former MLA for Parry Sound—Muskoka ), Ernie Eves in 2002 . In 2004 , construction began on the segment from Sudbury southwards to Estaire , and route planning studies were completed for the Estaire to Parry Sound branch. Although the timetable may be subject to change, the construction is currently scheduled to be completed in 2017 . CONSTRUCTION PHASES - TORONTO SECTION
VOLUME INFORMATION (2002)
LANE CONFIGURATIONS FROM SOUTH TO NORTH INTERCHANGES FROM SOUTH TO NORTH
PROPOSED INTERCHANGES FROM SOUTH TO NORTH (EXIT NUMBERS ASSUMED)
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