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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 Kilometre s (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 through what is now Halton and Peel Region in 1936. At the time, the Middle Road was one of the first examples of a divided highway anywhere in the world, 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. 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 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. In 1955 these were replaced by '''QEW''' signs similar to Ontario's usual "King's Highway" signs, but with blue lettering on a yellow background instead of the usual black on white (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.Annual report of the and Niagara Street interchange projects as being on Highway "451 Q.E.W." The number is also used to track contracts and maintenance. HAMILTON-NIAGARA SECTION 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 1960, 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 (the Burlington Bay James N. Allan Skyway ) and the Welland Canal in St. Catharines (the Garden City Skyway ) in the 1960s to allow free movement of traffic without the need to stop for drawbridges; tolls on these bridges were eventually removed. In 1978, 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 currently under construction, 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 2007. MISSISSAUGA-TORONTO SECTION The QEW was called the Middle Road from 1936 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 Meter s 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. This section has changed little since it was downloaded to Toronto. 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 in the section maintained by the City of Toronto, and replaced with English-only signs. 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 . 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 construction. {Link without Title} TRIVIA
VOLUME INFORMATION (2005)
LANE CONFIGURATIONS FROM FORT ERIE TO TORONTO EXIT LIST Exits are numbered from south (Fort Erie) to north (Toronto). SEE ALSO
REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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