Ontario provincial highway 2

Highway 2 was the major east-west provincial highway in Southern Ontario, running from Windsor in the west to the Lancaster in the east and joining together the towns and cities of the western two thirds of the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Highway 2 represents the original road joining together the main settlements of Ontario, based on earlier trails and footpaths, and it served as the primary wagon and stage coach route before the arrival of the Grand Trunk Railroad. Most of the towns and cities in the corridor are built around the highway and use it as one of their main streets, typically with names like Toronto Road, Montreal Road, or Dundas Street. Many of the original nineteenth century brick inns and taverns along the route still exist, especially in smaller towns and villages, though the buildings have typically passed to other uses.

Related Topics:
Provincial highway - Southern Ontario - Windsor - Lancaster - Quebec City-Windsor Corridor - Grand Trunk Railroad - Nineteenth century

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The construction of Highway 401 in the 1960s along a (mostly) parallel route, bypassing the town and city cores, made Highway 2 largely redundant except for local travel and tourism, and led to a decline of many businesses built alongside it: in many cases, they moved from town and city centres to malls and plazas located closer to Highway 401. Provincial downloading of highways to local municipalities has largely resulted in the elimination of this highway as an provincial entity, and it has now become mostly a series of connected county roads. The portion still maintained as a provincial highway runs in unison with Highway 49 from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory border to the former Highway 2 turnoff in the south. There is also a small section still in existence from the eastern limit of the Town of Gananoque to Highway 401. This section is about 0.2km long.

Related Topics:
Highway 401 - Highway 49 - Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory - Gananoque - Highway 401

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Current designations of Highway 2 as it existed in 1996.

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• Essex County - now County Road #42 (known also as Division Rd. near Windsor)
• Chatham-Kent - now Municipal Road #2 (known also as Queen's Line west of Chatham, Grand Ave. within Chatham and Longwoods Rd. east of Chatham)
• Middlesex County - now County Road #2 (known also as Longwoods Rd. west of London, Wharncliffe Rd. within London and Dundas St. east of London)
• Oxford County - now County Road #2 (known also as Road 68 west of Woodstock and Dundas St. within Woodstock)
• Brant County - now County Road #HWY 2 (known also as Governors Rd. west of Paris, King St. and Dundas St. within Paris, Paris Rd. between Paris and Brantford and Brant St. and Colborne St. within Brantford.)
• Hamilton - now Wilson St.
• Halton RM - now Lakeshore Rd.
• Peel RM - now Lakeshore Rd.
• Toronto - now Lakeshore Boulevard. and Kingston Road. (It was once posted on the Gardiner Expressway but that may have been a city-posted designation); prior to the expressway age, both Queen and King Streets had been marked on older maps.
• Durham RM - now Regional Road #HWY 2 (known also as Kingston Rd. in Pickering and Ajax, Dundas St. in Whitby and King St. Oshawa east.)
• Northumberland County - now County Road #2 (known also as Toronto Rd., Mill St., and Peter St. in Port Hope and William St. and King St. in Cobourg.
• Hastings County - now Former Hwy. 2, also Dundas St. in Trenton and Dundas St. in Belleville.
• Lennox and Addington - now County Road #2
• Frontenac County - now Princess St. Kingston west and Old Hwy. 2 east of Kingston.
• Leeds and Grenville United Counties - County Road #2
• Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry United Counties - County Road #2 outside of Cornwall and Vincent Massey Dr., Brookdale Ave., Water St. and Montreal Rd. within Cornwall.