History
The corridor that connects London and Hamilton has always been important to Ontario. In late October 1793, Captain Smith and 100 Queen's Rangers returned from carving The Governor's Road 32 km (20 mi) through the thick forests between Dundas and the present location of Paris. John Graves Simcoe was tasked with defending Upper Canada from America following the revolution and with opening the virgin territory to settlement. After establishing a "temporary" capital at York, Simcoe ordered an inland route constructed between Cootes Paradise at the tip of Lake Ontario and his proposed capital of London. By the spring of 1794, the road was extended as far as La Tranche, now the Thames River. Today, most of this route forms part of former Highway 2 and former Highway 5.
The paving of the divided four-lane Middle Road, with gentle curves, a grass median and grade-separated interchanges, would set the stage for the freeway concept. It was the first intercity freeway in North America when it opened in June 1939. Thomas McQueston, the new minister of the Department of Highways and the man most responsible for the Middle Road, decided to apply the concept to sections of Highway 2 plagued with congestion. A portion east of Woodstock was rebuilt in this fashion, but World War II would put an end to the ambitions of McQueston, at least temporarily.
Read more about this topic: Ontario Highway 403
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