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EspañolHIGHWAY 404 (ONTARIO)
Highway 404 southbound, near the interchange with Steeles Avenue, noting the new southbound HOV lane, before the northbound HOV lane was open.
'Highway 404' is a 400-Series Highway in Ontario, Canada. It runs from the junction of Highway 401 and the Don Valley Parkway in Toronto to its northern terminus at Green Lane/Herald Road in Newmarket. The highway mainly serves as a commuter road for those working in Toronto but living in the northern suburbs of the city. As it forms Toronto's only complete north-south freeway besides Highway 427, Highway 404 is among the busiest freeways for its size.
Construction
Originally an extension of the Don Valley Parkway and incorporating the routing of Woodbine Avenue, Highway 404 became a provincial highway (and was completed by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation) in 1977.
The interchange with Highway 401 was built in the late 1960s along with the Highway 401 expansion project, and remains a major bottleneck especially for southbound traffic. As a result, people often compare the name of this highway to the 404 errors that occur on the Internet when traffic abruptly halts at a dead-end.
Initially, Highway 404 was completed from Highway 401 to Steeles Avenue with six lanes. At the time, it had features atypical of 1970s provincial urban freeways, notably its grass median with a steel box-beam barrier and its conventional shaded high-pressure sodium lighting system, rather than the more common metal guardrail and mercury truss lights. North of Steeles Avenue, Highway 404 became a four-lane rural freeway.
Upgrades and future extensions
In the late 1990s, Highway 404 underwent a major reconstruction with the earliest projects centring around the new Highway 407 ETR. Subsequently, the grass median and conventional lighting system was replaced with a tall-wall concrete barrier, high-mast lighting, and two additional lanes per direction from Highway 401 to Highway 407. North of Highway 407, Highway 404 was widened to six lanes all the way to Aurora Road, and the lighting system had been extended all the way to Major Mackenzie Drive. Ramps serving 404 northbound were added to the existing partial interchange with 16th Avenue in 2002, and in 2003-2004, a new interchange was constructed with Elgin Mills Road.
Running parallel to Highway 400 approximately 15 kilometres (9.5 mi) to the east, the 404 extends 36 kilometres (22 mi) north-south. The MTO plans to further extend the 404 north (and then east) to Highway 12 (Beaverton area), to better serve commuters and to provide an alternate highway link into Ontario's "cottage country". On May 16, 2006 the MTO announced plans to extend the highway 15 kilometres further north from Green Lane to Ravenshoe Rd. at the south end of Keswick. Construction is expected to commence sometime in 2007 with completion slated for 2011. This extension was confirmed by the MTO on March 5, 2007.
Highway 404 has 14 interchanges along its length, mostly of the Parclo A4 type. The fact that the exit numbers start at 17 suggest that the Don Valley Parkway was included in distance calculations when signing the exits, although there are no exit numbers posted on the Don Valley Parkway.
A northbound HOV Lane from Don Valley Parkway/Highway 401 to Highway 7 opened at 8:30 AM EDT on Monday July 23, 2007. The southbound HOV lane was opened in December 2005.
HOV lanes
HOV lanes similar to those on Highway 403 in Peel Region have been added to the 404 from Highway 407 ETR southwards to the Highway 401. The HOV lanes are the leftmost lanes of the freeway, with a buffer strip (not a concrete barrier or guardrail) to separate them from the regular lanes.
The first projects commenced in the late 1990s and involved the construction of the Highway 407 interchange and the widening of the Highway 7 junction to incorporate the HOV lanes, although the extra pavement was blocked off and remained unused for over five years.
The next stage of HOV construction was the widening of the freeway from Highway 401 to just north of Steeles Avenue using the median, in 1999-2001, along with improved ramps from 401 eastbound to 404 northbound. The new left lanes served general purpose traffic for the interim, while stretch of Highway 404 from Sheppard Avenue to Steeles Avenue was widened using the right shoulder to provide additional lanes for general purpose traffic. Once this was completed, the left-most lanes were converted to HOV lanes.
Construction for the southbound HOV lane began in early 2004 and was completed December 2005. This project included an underpass tunnel to the Highway 401 westbound, and collector lanes were added to reduce the weaving from incoming Sheppard Avenue traffic and outgoing traffic to Highway 401. At the Sheppard Avenue overpasses, the HOV lane becomes two lanes, with the leftmost lane leading to 401 westbound collector lanes via a curved tunnel, while the right HOV lane traffic merges with Don Valley Parkway southbound traffic.
Shortly afterwards, work on the northbound HOV lane was initiated and was completed in July 2007. At 8:30 AM EST on Monday, July 23, 2007, the northbound HOV lane opened to the public. The HOV lanes end just north of Highway 7, after the Beaver Creek crossing, but there is still sufficient right-of-way in the grass median to extend them if needed.
Volume information (2005)
Highway 404 is Ontario's third busiest freeway after Highway 401 and Highway 427.
★ Highest Volume: 250,800 AADT from Highway 401 / Don Valley Parkway (Exit 17) to Sheppard Avenue (Exit 18)
★ Lowest Volume: 32,200 AADT from Vivian Road/Mulock Road (Exit 49) to Davis Drive (Exit 51)
Lane configurations from south to north
| Section | Travel lanes |
|---|---|
| Highway 401 & Don Valley Parkway to Sheppard Avenue | 4 Lanes Southbound, 2 HOV Lanes Southbound, 5 Lanes Northbound |
| Sheppard Avenue to Van Horne Avenue | 4 Lanes Southbound, 5 Lanes Northbound, 1 continuous auxiliary exit/entry lane per Direction, 1 HOV Lane southbound |
| Van Horne Avenue to Steeles Avenue | 4 Lanes Per Direction, 1 HOV Lane per direction |
| Steeles Avenue to Highway 407 | 4 Lanes per direction, 1 HOV Lane per Direction |
| Highway 407 to Highway 7 | 4 Lanes Per Direction, 1 HOV Lane Per direction (HOV Lane Northbound Tempoary End's @ Highway 7) |
| Highway 7 to Beaver Creek Croosing | 4 Lanes per direction (1 Continus Auxiliary On/Off Lane), 1 additional HOV lane southbound (HOV lane Southbound Temporary Begins @ Beaver Creek) 1 HOV lane Northbound currently under planning |
| Beaver Creek Crossing to 16th Avenue (York Road 73) | 4 Lanes per direction (1 Continus Auxiliary On/Off Lane southbound), 4 lanes Northbound 1 HOV lane per direction currently under planning |
| 16th Avenue (York Road 73) to Aurora Road (York Road 15) | 3 Lanes per Direction 1 HOV lane per direction currently under planning |
| Aurora Road to Green Lane (York Road 19) | 2 Lanes per Direction 1 HOV lane per direction currently under planning |
Interchanges from south to north
| Municipality | Exit number | Intersecting roads |
|---|---|---|
| Toronto | 17 |  |
| Toronto | 18 | Sheppard Avenue |
| Toronto | 20 | Finch Avenue |
| Toronto – Markham Boundary | 22 | (Northbound) Steeles Avenue / Woodbine Avenue (York Road 8)/(Southbound) Steeles Ave |
| Markham | 25 |  |
| Markham – Richmond Hill Boundary | 27 |   |
| Markham – Richmond Hill Boundary | 29 |  |
| Markham – Richmond Hill Boundary | 31 |  |
| Markham – Richmond Hill Boundary | 33 |  |
| Richmond Hill – Whitchurch-Stouffville Boundary | 37 |  |
| Richmond Hill – Whitchurch-Stouffville – Aurora Boundary | 41 |  |
| Whitchurch-Stouffville – Aurora Boundary | 45 |  |
| Whitchurch-Stouffville – Newmarket Boundary | 49 |  |
| Whitchurch-Stouffville – Newmarket – East Gwillimbury Boundary | 51 |  |
| East Gwillimbury | 53 |  |
Planned interchanges from south to north (exit numbers assumed)
| Municipality | Exit number | Intersecting roads |
|---|---|---|
| East Gwillimbury | 59 |  |
| East Gwillimbury | 60 | Bradford Bypass (proposed freeway) |
| East Gwillimbury | 65 |   |
| Georgina | 70 | Pollock Road |
| Georgina | 79 |  |
| Georgina | 91 |  |
| Georgina – Brock Boundary | 93 | Lake Ridge Road (York Road 23 / Durham Road 23) |
External links
★ Google Maps: Highway 404 route
References
★ Cameron Bevers, ''The History of Ontario's Kings Highways'' at http://www.thekingshighway.ca/
★ Scott Steeves, ''www.ONTHIGHWAYS.com'' at http://www.onthighways.com/
★ Official extension plans - government notice, published in March 22, 2005 edition of The Globe and Mail
★ Ontario earmarks $3.4 billion of highway at http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1150451529273&call_pageid=968256289824&col=968342212737
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