Queen Elizabeth Way - Hamilton, Ontario - Engineering Landmarks on Waymarking.com

The Queen Elizabeth Way highway run 138 kilometers through some of the most densely populated regions in Canada, connecting the city of Toronto with the international border crossing at Fort Erie. Officially opened in 1939, the highway is named in honour of Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother).

NATIONAL HISTORIC CIVIL ENGINEERING SITE QUEEN ELIZABETH WAY OFFICIALLY OPENED IN 1939 A TRIBUTE TO THE ENGINEERS WHO DESIGNED AND SUPERVISED THE CONSTRUCTION OF THIS FREEWAY CANADIAN SOCIETY FOR CIVIL ENGINEERING 1990

The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) is an important freeway which generally follows the Lake Ontario shoreline from Toronto to the Niagara Peninsula. The highway is the oldest inter-city divided highway in Canada and has arguably been one of the most influential highway developments in Ontario's history. The highway passes through the heart of Ontario's largest industrial and commercial centres and provides vital access to the United States at Niagara Falls and Fort Erie. The QEW has also greatly improved travel times, particularly between Hamilton and Niagara Falls. This strategic highway corridor continues to fuel Ontario's economic growth over 75 years after it was completed.

By the 1930s, inter-city traffic volumes between Toronto and Hamilton had begun to overwhelm Highway 2, and to a lesser extent, Highway 5. Since there was little room available to widen Highway 2, a new highway corridor was planned. The Middle Road, a minor rural road located about 2 km north of Highway 2, was selected as the route for the new highway. Construction began in the early 1930s to convert this minor rural road between Toronto and Burlington into a four-lane "superhighway". Originally, the new road was planned as a four-lane undivided highway, but a landscaped median was quickly added along the highway in an effort to improve traffic safety. The highway narrowed into an undivided four-lane pavement on the approaches to major bridges. The new Middle Road Highway was opened in several stages between 1932 and 1937. The new highway was completed between Toronto and Hamilton in the summer of 1937 and boasted a full cloverleaf interchange at Highway 10 in Port Credit and a partial cloverleaf (trumpet) interchange in Burlington. These were the very first traffic interchanges ever built in Canada. The new Middle Road was extended to Niagara Falls, via Grimsby and St. Catharines in the late 1930s. Several more highway interchanges were built along this section, including a large traffic circle at the Highway 20 Junction in Stoney Creek.

While the new Toronto-Niagara Falls Highway was the pinnacle of 1930s highway engineering and innovation, the name "Middle Road" simply did not inspire an image of grandeur. While the Ontario Government was considering new names for the highway, an idea surfaced to re-dedicate the Middle Road Highway as the "Queen Elizabeth Way", to commemorate the first Royal Visit to Canada by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother). Queen Elizabeth was delighted with the honour and agreed to attend a special dedication ceremony in St. Catharines on June 6, 1939. The dedication ceremony took place near the Henley Bridge in St. Catharines. After the ceremony concluded, special decorative sculptures and elements were added to the Henley Bridge to commemorate the 1939 Royal Visit. The QEW was quickly completed and was open to traffic to Niagara Falls by late 1939. However, due to the outbreak of war in Europe, several sections of the highway between Stoney Creek and St. Catharines remained unpaved until the summer of 1940. The QEW was extended from Niagara Falls to Fort Erie in 1941, but this section remained unpaved for the duration of World War II. Another extension of the QEW was constructed to provide access to the Rainbow Bridge, which opened to traffic in 1941. The Rainbow Bridge Extension met the Queen Elizabeth Way at a traffic circle, which was removed during a highway reconstruction project in the early 1970s.

Source: http://www.thekingshighway.ca/Queen_Elizabeth_Way.htm

Location: Confederation Park, 680 Waterfront Trail, Hamilton, ON L8E 3L8 Type of structure/site: Highway Date of Construction: 1939 Engineering Organization Listing: Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Web Site: [Web Link] Engineer/Architect/Builder etc.: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
The listed coordinates for this waymark must be personally visited.

Please submit at least one ORIGINAL PHOTO of the structure, preferably one showing a different aspect, angle, season, etc. from the original waymark.

Give the DATE of your visit and any comments or additional information that will help other visitors enjoy this site.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.