Ontario Highway 427 - History

History

Although Highway 427 was not officially designated until 1972, several sections of freeway were already in place prior to that date. The designation was applied following the completion of the interchanges at the QEW and Highway 401 as well as the expansion of the section between them into a collector-express system.

Highway 27 was initially a two lane road travelling north from Highway 2 (Lakeshore Boulevard) towards Barrie. As Toronto grew outwards following the annexation of various municipalities, the Ontario Department of Highways (DHO) began planning for a bypass of the city, aptly named the Toronto Bypass. A significant portion of this bypass was designed to be incorporated into the Transprovincial Highway, now Highway 401. The remainder was designed to follow the existing right-of-way of Highway 27 between the QEW and Richview Sideroad (now Eglinton Avenue).

Construction of the Toronto Bypass began near Yonge Street in 1949 and on the four-laning of Highway 27 in 1953. The Highway 27 work involved the construction of two interchanges: a three-way stack at Highway 401 and a large cloverleaf at the QEW, the latter of which would become one the worst bottlenecks in the province a decade after its completion, according to minister Charles MacNaughton. By the end of 1955, it was possible to entirely bypass Toronto on a four-lane divided highway by using Highway 401 and Highway 27. Highway 401 was extended to the west soon after, but Highway 27 remained a two lane highway north of it.

During the early 1960s, Toronto International Airport was expanded with the construction of the Aeroquay One terminal. To serve the expected demand of the expansion, the DHO built a new four-lane freeway north from Highway 401 at Renforth Drive. This new route, which roughly followed the same route as Highway 427 as far as Dixon/Airport Road, was known as the Toronto Airport Expressway and was opened on January 3, 1964. It featured a connection with the western terminus of Richview Sideroad at the southern end of the interchange with Highway 401 as well as an interchange with Renforth Drive.

In 1963, it was announced by MacNaughton that Highway 401 would be widened from a four-lane highway to a collector-express system, modelled after the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago. Plans were soon developed to apply this model to the QEW between Highway 27 and Royal York Road and to Highway 27 between the QEW and Highway 401, and were unveiled to Etobicoke council on October 13, 1966. Design work followed and was completed by May 1967. This reconstruction once again involved the junctions with the QEW and Highway 401, which were reconfigured into complicated multi-level interchanges to permit free-flow movement; construction began in September 1968. The widening of Highway 27 required the demolition and rebuilding of overpasses at Bloor Street, Burnhamthorpe Road and Rathburn Road constructed just over a decade earlier.

The junction with the QEW was built over 48.5 ha (120 acres) and required the construction of 19 bridges and the equivalent of 42 km (26 mi) of two-lane roadway. The junction with Highway 401 sprawls over 156 ha (385 acres) and required the construction of 28 bridges and the equivalent of 46.6 km (29 mi) of two-lane roadway; the largest interchange in Canada. The former was opened to traffic on November 14, 1969, while the latter required several more years of construction staging, fully opening on December 4, 1971 (though portions were opened in the weeks prior to that), just prior to Highway 27's renumbering as Highway 427.

The completed project resulted in the creation of Highway 427 between the QEW and Dixon/Airport Road, north of which traffic was defaulted onto Indian Line. The entire Airport Expressway was removed to make way for the new interchange, but the new route still included direct access to the airport. Ultimately, it was planned to extend Highway 427 north along Indian Line to the future Highway 407, where ramps would direct northbound traffic onto Highway 27. An extension north of Dixon/Airport Road began in 1976 as part of the work to build Highway 409, and it included the construction of the interchange between the two freeways. By the beginning of 1980, this work was completed, and construction was progressing on the section north to Rexdale Boulevard, which opened by the end of the year. In 1982, Construction began on the next section of Highway 427, which would extend it to Albion Road, north of the Humber River. This project included the extension of Finch Avenue west from Highway 27 to Steeles Avenue West and was completed in late 1984.

As part of the initial phase of Highway 407, Highway 427 was extended north to Highway 7 in Vaughan and began with the construction of the interchange between the two in 1988. With the interchange only half-completed, the extension was opened in late 1991. By 1994, the final at-grade intersections – one at Morning Star Drive, and another as a left-turn to the southbound lanes with eastbound Highway 409 – were replaced, making Highway 427 a fully controlled-access freeway for its entire length.