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Ontario Highway 4

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Highway 4 marker
Highway 4
Location of Highway 4 in Southern Ontario
     Current route      Former route
Route information
Maintained by Ministry of Transportation of Ontario
Length100.8 km[1] (62.6 mi)
ExistedFebruary 26, 1920[2]–present
Major junctions
South end Highway 3 – St. Thomas
Major intersections Highway 401
 Highway 402
 Highway 7
North end Highway 8 – Clinton
Location
CountryCanada
ProvinceOntario
Major citiesSt. Thomas, London
TownsExeter, Clinton
Highway system
← Highway 3→ Highway 5
Former provincial highways
←  Highway 3B Highway 4A  →

King's Highway 4, also known as Highway 4, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Originally much longer than its present 100.8 km (62.6 mi) length, more than half of Highway 4 was transferred to the responsibility of local governments in 1998. In 2018, Highway 4 was re-signed and re-routed through London. In its present form, it travels between Highway 3 in Talbotville Royal, north-west of St. Thomas, and Highway 8 in Clinton.

Highway 4 was first designated in 1920, when a 27 km (17 mi) route between Talbotville Royal and Elginfield was assumed by the Department of Highways. Over the next half century it was extended north and east to Highway 24 near Singhampton, and south to Port Stanley.

Route description

Former alignment of Highway 4 looking north towards Lambeth from the Highway 402 interchange in London.

Highway 4 starts at an intersection with Highway 3 in Talbotville Royal and continues north as a two-lane undivided highway. It then starts a short concurrency with Highway 401 at the community of Tempo. Before a 2017 re-route, the highway continued north from Tempo along Colonel Talbot Road. The concurrency ends at Wonderland Road, which the highway follows through London. At Sunningdale, the highway follows Sunningdale Road for a short distance before following Richmond Street.[3][4]

The road continues north, passing through Arva, Birr and large amounts of farmland before intersecting with the western terminus of Highway 7 at Elginfield. The highway then curves slightly west, passing through Lucan before continuing north. It then passes through the communities of Huron Park and Exeter. At Exeter, it crosses the former route of Highway 83. From there, it continues north, passing through the communities of Hensall, Ontario and Vanastra, Ontario before terminating at Highway 8 in the community of Clinton.[3][4]

History

The Highway 4 / Talbot Street junction in St. Thomas

Highway 4 was originally designated in 1920 when the provincial government assumed the road running from Talbotville Royal (St. Thomas) to the Northern Highway (later Highway 7) at Elginfield, via London. The portions within Elgin County were assumed on August 4, while the portions south of London were assumed on June 24. The portions north of and through London were assumed on August 6.[5] The 51.2-kilometre (31.8 mi) route featured a concurrency with the Provincial Highway (later Highway 2) between Lambeth and downtown London.[6][7]

Until the summer of 1925, Ontario highways were named rather than numbered. When route numbering was introduced, the route between St. Thomas and Elginfield became Provincial Highway 4.[8] 1927 saw several new sections assumed that would become portion of Highway 4. On September 14, the route was extended to Highway 8 at Clinton. Further north, a new highway was created on June 22, 1927, between Highway 9 at Walkerton and Highway 6 at Durham. This latter section was designated as Highway 4A.[9]

On March 12, 1930, the highway was extended as far north as the intersection of Highway 10 in Flesherton, fully absorbing the route of Highway 4A in the process. Two months later, on May 11, it was extended south to Edith Cavell Boulevard (formerly Bedford Street) in Port Stanley.[10] In the 1970s, Highway 4 reached its maximum length when it was extended from Flesherton to Singhampton. However, in 1998, the Mike Harris government, seeking to balance the provincial budget, off-loaded responsibility for the Clinton–Singhampton and Talbotville-Port Stanley sections of Highway 4—almost 65% of its total length—back onto municipal governments.[citation needed]

Highway 4 north of St. Thomas in 1948

The former portion of Highway 4 south of St. Thomas is now signed as Elgin County Road 4. The former northern portion is broken into several different roads:

In 2017, the City of London announced that Highway 4 through London would be re-signed and re-routed via Richmond Street, Sunningdale Road, and Wonderland Road, resulting in a short concurrency with Highway 401 between the Colonel Talbot Road and Wonderland Road interchanges.[11]

Major intersections

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 4, as noted by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.[1] 

DivisionLocationkm[1]miDestinationsNotes
ElginTalbotville Royal0.00.0 Highway 3 – St. Thomas
 6.03.7 Highway 401 – Windsor, TorontoExit 177, ON-4 overlaps with Hwy 401 until Wonderland Rd S.[1]
MiddlesexLondon8.85.5Wonderland Road SouthON-4 exits and continues northbound along Wonderland Rd S.
15.99.9 Highway 402 – Sarnia
18.111.2Exeter RoadFormerly Highway 135
18.411.4Wharncliffe Road SFormer routing of Highway 4 (before Jan. 2018) and Highway 2 along Wharncliffe Rd
29.818.5Fanshawe Park Road WFormerly Highway 22 west
34.021.1Richmond St / Sunningdale RdFormer routing of Highway 4 via Richmond Street south
Arva31.619.6 County Road 28 (Medway Road)
 37.223.1 County Road 16 (Ilderton Road)
Elginfield45.428.2 Highway 7 east – St. Marys, Stratford
 County Road 7 west (Elginfield Road)		Access to  Highway 23 via Highway 7 east
Clandeboye54.333.7 County Road 28 (Denfield Road)
Mooresville58.136.1Mooresville Drive
HuronCentralia64.239.9 County Road 21
Exeter72.445.0 County Road 83 (Thames Road)Formerly Highway 83
Hensall80.349.9 County Road 84 (King Street)Formerly Highway 84
Kippen84.352.4 County Road 12 (Kippen Road)
Brucefield90.456.2 County Road 3 (Mill Road)
Clinton100.862.6 Highway 8
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ontario Highway 4.
  1. ^ a b c Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (2008). "Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) counts". Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved February 13, 2012.
  2. ^ Shragge, John; Bagnato, Sharon (1984). From Footpaths to Freeways. Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Historical Committee. p. 74. ISBN 0-7743-9388-2.
  3. ^ a b "2016 Average Annual Daily Traffic Counts" (PDF). Ontario Ministry of Transportation. 2016. pp. 9–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 October 2017. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Highway 4 - Length and Route". Google Maps. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  5. ^ "Report on Provincial Highways". Annual Report (Report) (1920 ed.). Department of Highways. April 26, 1921. pp. 40, 43. Retrieved October 12, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  6. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). 24 mi : 1 in. Ontario Department of Public Highways. 1923. Retrieved October 12, 2021 – via Archives of Ontario.
  7. ^ Ontario Road Map (Map). 16 mi : 1 in. Ontario Department of Public Highways. 1925. Mileage Tables inset. Retrieved October 12, 2021 – via Archives of Ontario.
  8. ^ "Provincial Highways Now Being Numbered". The Canadian Engineer. 49 (8). Monetary Times Print: 246. August 25, 1925. Numbering of the various provincial highways in Ontario has been commenced by the Department of Public Highways. Resident engineers are now receiving metal numbers to be placed on poles along the provincial highways. These numbers will also be placed on poles throughout cities, towns and villages, and motorists should then have no trouble in finding their way in and out of urban municipalities. Road designations from "2" to "17" have already been allotted...
  9. ^ "Appendix No. 6 – Schedule of Assumptions and Reversions of the Provincial Highway System". Annual Report (Report) (1927 ed.). Department of Highways. March 1, 1929. p. 59–60. Retrieved October 12, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  10. ^ "Appendix No. 5 – Schedule of Assumptions and Reversions". Annual Report (Report) (1930 and 1931 ed.). Department of Highways. October 24, 1932. p. 76. Retrieved October 12, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  11. ^ "Highway 4 Re-Route". City of London. Archived from the original on 6 November 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
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