queen elizabeth way

The Queen Elizabeth Way (commonly referred to as the QEW, Q, QE, or Queen-E) is a vital freeway linking Buffalo, New York and the Niagara Peninsula with Toronto and its western suburbs. The freeway starts at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie, Ontario and continues 139 km 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. The QEW is not referred to by any route number. Many falsely think of the QEW as Ontario's hidden Highway 1. This is not true. In fact, although never signed, the QEW does have the secret designation of Highway 451 and is considered part of the 400-Series Highway network. In planning documents in the 1940s, the QEW was also referred to as Highway 402. 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) is concurrently signed with Highway 403. The Queen Elizabeth Way originally started as a divided-highway upgrade of the Middle Road through what is now Halton and Peel Region. The highway was not named for Queen Elizabeth I or Queen Elizabeth II, but for the Queen Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mother) who was married to 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. Because the highway curves sharply around the end of Lake Ontario, its directions are not signed with compass points as usual in Canada, but with destination cities, such as QEW Toronto. 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. The Queen Elizabeth Way was extended further south to Fort Erie after World War II, leaving the QEW's original route to the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls as a branch which later became Highway 420. High-level bridges were constructed at Hamilton (the Skyway Bridge, originally Burlington Bay Skyway, later named 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. 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 is to be replaced in 2005, as is the 1937-vintage Martindale Road overpass in St. Catharines. The QEW formerly continued beyond Highway 427 to the old Toronto city limit at the Humber River; this section was downloaded from provincial to municipal ownership in 1997, and became part of the Gardiner Expressway. A monument dedicated to the construction of the QEW, originally located at its terminus, has since been moved to the CNE grounds in Toronto. 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-lane widening though Halton Region. Due to increased traffic volumes and environmental issues throughout the Niagara Region, plans are underway to construct a Mid-Peninsula Bypass of the QEW, running from Fort Erie though Welland ending in Burlington at Highway 407.

Interchanges from Fort Erie to Toronto

idth="33%"\|Municipality	width="12%"\|Exit Number	width="55%"\|Intersecting Roads
a href="/encyclopedia/Fort-Erie,-Ontario" title="Fort Erie, Ontario">Fort Erie	0	Goderich Street (Niagara Road 3) (Toronto-bound), Central Avenue (Niagara Road 134) (Fort Erie-bound)
ort Erie	1	Concession Road (Toronto-bound)
ort Erie	2	Thompson Road South (Toronto-bound), Bertie Street/Central Avenue (Fort Erie-bound)
ort Erie	5	Gilmore Road (Niagara Road 19)
ort Erie	7	Bowen Road (Niagara Road 21)
ort Erie - Niagara Falls Boundary	12	Netherby Road (Niagara Road 25)
iagara Falls	16	Sodom Road (Niagara Road 116)
iagara Falls	21	Lyons Creek Road (Niagara Road 47)
iagara Falls	27	McLeod Road (Niagara Road 49)
iagara Falls	30	Highway 420/Lundy's Lane (Niagara Road 20)/Dorchester Road
iagara Falls	32	Thorold Stone Road (Niagara Road 57)
iagara Falls	34	Mountain Road (Niagara Road 101)
a href="/encyclopedia/Niagara-on-the-Lake,-Ontario" title="Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario">Niagara-on-the-Lake	37	Highway 405 (Fort Erie-bound only)
iagara-on-the-Lake	38	Niagara Road 55/Glendale Avenue (Niagara Road 89)
a href="/encyclopedia/St.-Catharines,-Ontario" title="St. Catharines, Ontario">St. Catharines	44	Niagara Street (Niagara Road 48)/Service Road
t. Catharines	46	Lake Street
t. Catharines	47	Ontario Street (Niagara Road 42)
t. Catharines	48	Martindale Road (Niagara Road 38) (Toronto-bound only)
t. Catharines	49	Highway 406, North Service Road (Toronto-bound only)
t. Catharines	51	Seventh Street (Niagara Road 34)
a href="/encyclopedia/Lincoln,-Ontario" title="Lincoln, Ontario">Lincoln	55	Jordan Road (Niagara Road 26)
incoln	57	Victoria Avenue (Niagara Road 24)
incoln	64	Ontario Street (Niagara Road 18)
a href="/encyclopedia/Grimsby,-Ontario" title="Grimsby, Ontario">Grimsby	68	Bartlett Avenue (Niagara Road 14)
rimsby	71	Christie Street (Niagara Road 12)/Ontario Street/Maple Avenue
rimsby	74	Casablanca Boulevard (Niagara Road 10)
a href="/encyclopedia/Hamilton,-Ontario" title="Hamilton, Ontario">Hamilton	78	Fifty Road (Hamilton Road 50)
amilton	83	Fruitland Road (Hamilton Road 55)
amilton	88	Centennial Parkway (Hamilton Road 20), Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway (under construction)
amilton	89	Burlington Street
amilton	90	Woodward Avenue (Fort Erie-bound only)
amilton	93	Eastport Drive (Toronto-bound only)
a href="/encyclopedia/Burlington,-Ontario" title="Burlington, Ontario">Burlington	97	North Shore Boulevard, Eastport Drive (Fort Erie-bound only)
urlington	99	Plains Road/Fairview Street (Toronto-bound only)
urlington	100	Highway 403/Highway 407
urlington	101	Brant Street (Fort Erie-bound only)
urlington	102	Guelph Line (Halton Road 1)
urlington	105	Walkers Line
urlington	107	Appleby Line
urlington - Oakville Boundary	109	Burloak Drive
akville	110	Service Road (Fort Erie-bound only)
akville	111	Bronte Road (Halton Road 25)
akville	113	Third Line
akville	116	Dorval Drive
akville	117	Kerr Street (Fort Erie-bound only)
akville	118	Trafalgar Drive (Halton Road 3)
akville	119	Royal Windsor Drive (Toronto-bound only)
akville	123	Ford Drive, Highway 403 (Toronto-bound only)
akville - Mississauga Boundary	124	Winston Churchill Boulevard (Peel Road 19)
ississauga	126	Erin Mills Parkway/Southdown Road
ississauga	130	Mississauga Road
ississauga	132	Hurontario Street
ississauga	134	Cawthra Road (Peel Road 17)
ississauga	136	Dixie Road (Peel Road 4)
a href="/encyclopedia/Toronto,-Ontario" title="Toronto, Ontario">Toronto	138	Evans Avenue/The West Mall
oronto	139	Highway 427, Browns Line (Fort Erie-bound only)

Former Interchanges (on section redesignated in 1998)

See Gardiner Expressway listing

External links

<< Previous

Word Browser

Next >>

east german mark
battle of helena
united states territory
battle of buena vista
yokoi shounan
cameco
saskatoon public school division
james e. casey
john brown's body
wilfred bigelow
nicholas meyer

10 yard fight
the battle hymn of the republic
deficit
list of jurists
uss harvard
john j. mccloy
globus alliance
uss harvard (1888)
wto meeting of 1999
juan juan
the anarchist cookbook

winnuke
poison ivy (the cramps)
poison ivy (comics)
riddler
classic car club of america
mutually exclusive
richard wawro
fremantle football club
autistic savant
gate
cih virus

mechanosynthesis
harlem world
jacques hadamard
footpath
nanofactory
national statistical service of greece
silvia cartwright
cornelia
cornelia africana
battle of lodi
cato the younger