'Highway 20' is a provincially maintained highway in the
Niagara Region of
Ontario,
Canada. Presently, it is just a 1.9
km (1.2
mile) part of Niagara Road 20 between
Highway 58 and Niagara Road 70 in
Thorold.
First opened in
1930, at its peak Highway 20 stretched 68 km (42 miles) from downtown
Niagara Falls to a junction with
Queen Elizabeth Way in east
Hamilton. On
January 1,
1998, the province downloaded most of the highway onto municipalities of Hamilton and Niagara. Another downloading further shortened Highway 20 when
Highway 420 was completed through downtown Niagara Falls.
It should be noted that even though only 1.9 kilometres of the highway are provincially maintained, the rest of the highway is still maintained to a high standard by the two regions, corresponding to the relatively high volumes of traffic it receives. The Niagara Road 20 and Hamilton Road 20 continue to play an important role in the lives of communities that grew on Highway 20, such as
Fonthill and
Smithville.
The Ontario Ministry of Transportation reportedly kept a short section of Highway 20 because it may have been included in a planned westward extension of Highway 420 to reach
Highway 406. The extension, however, was finalized to connect to
Highway 58 rather than directly to Highway 406
[1], and therefore the future of this small section of highway is in doubt.
References
1. Niagara Needs Assessment Study
External links
★
History of Highway 20
★
Ontario Highways: 20