HIGHWAY 400 (ONTARIO)

'The King's Highway 400', more commonly known as 'Highway 400' or 'the 400', is a key north-south 400-Series Highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that links the city of Toronto to the central and northern sections of the province. As such, it serves as the primary route from Toronto to "cottage country" in the Muskoka region of Ontario.

Contents

Description

Expansion

Construction Phases - Toronto section

Volume Information (2005)

Control Cities

Lane Configurations from South to North

Exit list

Service Centres

The Highway 400 - Highway 11 split

Status of construction activity

Proposed Interchanges from South to North

External links

Description

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 Leaf Drive 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 90 km/h to 100 km/h (55 to 62 mph) 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 interchange 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, and are now clover-stack interchanges. 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".

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 MPP 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 four-laned route is scheduled to be completed in its entirety by 2017. Portions of the route will be opened to traffic as construction is completed — the next segment from Parry Sound to Nobel is currently scheduled to open in 2008, and the segment immediately south of Sudbury is scheduled to open in 2009. [1]
As of fall 2006, the newly-constructed lanes at the Wahta Gap are now in operation. However, this segment will remain a two-lane roadway until the summer or early fall of 2007, as the original two lanes are now closed for regrading and bridge reconstruction.

Construction Phases - Toronto section

★ Highway 401 to Jane Street 1966

★ Jane Street to Weston Road 1975 - later as Black Creek Drive in 1985 (an at-grade municipal expressway that is not part of Highway 400, although the land was initially intended for a controlled-access Highway 400 south extension)

Volume Information (2005)

★ Highest Volume: 176,800 vehicles Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) from Highway 401 (Exit 21) to Finch Avenue (Exit 25)

★ Lowest Volume: 9,100 vehicles AADT from South Bay Road (Muskoka Road 48) / Muskoka Road 34 (Exit 162) to Crooked Bay Road / Georgian Bay Road (Exit 168)

Control Cities

From South to North

★ 'Toronto'

★ 'Barrie'

★ 'Parry Sound'

★ 'Sudbury'

★ 'North Bay'
Notes: In Barrie, Ontario, signs also say "Sudbury, Via Hwy. 69" and "North Bay, Via Hwy. 11" Also, Parry Sound and Barrie are not listed as control cities north of Port Severn.

Lane Configurations from South to North

Section	Travel Lanes
Jane Street/Black Creek Drive to Highway 401	3 Lanes per Direction
Highway 401 to Finch Avenue	6 Lanes per Direction
Finch Avenue to Steeles Avenue	5 Lanes per Direction
Steeles Avenue to Highway 407	4 Lanes per Direction
Highway 407 to Langstaff Road	7 Lanes per Direction (4 express, 3 local)
Langstaff Road to Major Mackenzie Drive	4 Lanes per Direction
Major Mackenzie Drive to Highway 11	3 Lanes per Direction 1 HOV lane per direction currently under planning COULD GO UP TO HIGHWAY 11
Highway 11 to Musquash River bridge	2 Lanes per Direction
"Wahta Gap" (Musquash River bridge to Highway 69/Tower Road)	1 Lane per Direction, Undivided, Divided under construction (expected completion 2006-07)
Highway 69/Tower Road to Bowes Street/McDougall Road	2 Lanes per Direction

Exit list

Location	#	Destinations	Notes
Toronto		Black Creek Drive	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	20	Jane Street
	21		Signed as exits 21A (east) and 21B (west)
	25	Finch Avenue
Vaughan	26
	27	Steeles Avenue	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	29
	30	Langstaff Road (RR 72)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	32	Bass Pro Mills Drive	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	33	Rutherford Road (RR 73)
	35
	37		Under construction
King	43
	52
	55
Bradford-West Gwillimbury	58	Canal Road (CR 8)	Right-in/right-out interchange
	64		Signed as exits 64A (east) and 64B (west)
Innisfil	75
	85	Innisfil Beach Road (CR 21) - Thornton, Barclay
Barrie	90	Mapleview Drive
	94	Essa Road	Former Hwy 27
	96	Dunlop Street - Angus	Signed as exits 96A (east) and 96B (west) northbound; former Hwy 90
	98		Former Hwy 27
	102	Duckworth Street
Springwater			Northbound left exit and southbound left entrance
	111
	117
Oro-Medonte	121
	131	Mount St. Louis Road
	136
	137	Lower Big Chute Road - Coldwater	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
Severn	141		South end of Hwy 12/TCH overlap
	147		North end of Hwy 12 overlap
	149
	153	Port Severn Road South - Port Severn
Georgian Bay	156
	162
	168	Georgian Bay Road, Crooked Bay Road
	174
	177		South end of Hwy 69 overlap
		Iroquois Cranberry Growers Drive - Wahta Mohawk Territory	Currently an at-grade intersection; interchange under construction
			Currently an at-grade intersection; interchange under construction
	189		North end of Hwy 69 overlap
Seguin	207
	213		South end of Hwy 69 overlap
	214	Seguin Trail Road, Horseshoe Lake Road
	217	Oastler Park Road, Badger Road
	220
Parry Sound	224	Bowes Street, McDougall Road - Parry Sound

Service Centres

The service centres are located at the following points on Highway 400 and contain the following services:

Location	km	Direction	Fuel	Food	Other
King	20	Southbound	Esso	Wendy's, Tim Horton's, Mr. Sub	Nicholby's Express, Picnic Area
	25	Northbound	Petro-Canada	Wendy's, Tim Horton's, Mr. Sub	Nicholby's Express
Innisfil	55	Southbound	Petro-Canada	McDonald's	"unknown"
Barrie	65	Northbound	Petro-Canada	McDonald's	"unknown"
Muskoka	90	Southbound	Shell	Tim Hortons, KFC	"unknown"
	99	Northbound	Esso	Tim Hortons, KFC	"unknown"

The Highway 400 - Highway 11 split

At the north end of Barrie, Highway 11 intersects Highway 400 at a partial interchange. Traffic heading northbound on Highway 400 towards Parry Sound must exit to the right, while the two leftmost lanes default onto Highway 11 to Orillia. This junction of the two roads is referred to as "the split".
When Highway 400 was first constructed to its original northern terminus in Barrie, it continued onwards to meet Highway 11 at an interchange with Penetanguishene Road, which carried the Highway 11 alignment through downtown Barrie at the time. The first extensions to Parry Sound were performed south of that interchange, creating a 1 km gap between Highway 11 and Highway 400. This gap was designated as 'Highway 400A' until 1997, though it was exclusively signed with trailblazers. When Highway 11 along Penetanguishene Road and Yonge Street was downloaded to municipal authorities in the late 1990s, the designation of Highway 11 was extended to the interchange with Highway 400, and Highway 400A ceased to exist.

Status of construction activity

★ 'Currently under construction':
:: Sudbury, Gladu Road to Highway 537 (9 km), scheduled to open in 2009
:: Parry Sound, existing terminus to Nobel (7 km), scheduled to open in 2008

★ 'Engineering and property acquisition phase':
:: Highway 537 to Pickerel River (58 km)
:: Nobel bypass (10 km)

★ 'Route planning and environmental assessment':
:: Pickerel River to Nobel bypass (68 km)

★ 'Future expansion, no current activity':
:: Sudbury, Regent Street/Gladu Road to Highway 17

Proposed Interchanges from South to North

Municipality	#	Destinations	Notes
Parry Sound	226	Parry Sound Drive	Currently under construction
McDougall	229	Highway 124	Full interchange under construction; currently a two-lane interchange on Highway 69
	234	Nobel access road	Interchange construction to begin soon; to open 2010
	238	Highway 559	Interchange construction to begin soon; to open 2010
Carling	247	Woods Road
The Archipelago	256	Shebeshekong Road
	263	North Shore Road/Highway 644
	267	Highway 529/Pointe au Baril	Specific alignment still under review
	277	Harris Lake Road
	288	Highway 529/Highway 645
	304	Highway 522
	311	Indian Reserve of French River (access road)
Killarney	319	Highway 607/Hartley Bay Road
	328	Highway 64
	336	Delamere access road
	344	Highway 637
	350	Estaire access road	Existing Highway 69
	356	Nepewassi Road
Greater Sudbury	363	Sudbury Road 537	Interchange under construction
	371	Regent Street (Sudbury Road 46/existing Highway 69)	Interchange under construction
	376	Highway 17	Final phase to link to twinned Southeast Bypass

★ Sources: Highway 69 Study, MTO construction map. Distances are land estimates.

External links

★ Highway 400 Live Traffic Cams

★ History of Ontario's King's Highway — Highway 400

★ Highway 400 extension Route Planning Studies

★ Highway 400 at OntHighways.com

★ Google Maps: Highway 400 route