Ontario Highway 7 - History

History

The route which would later become Highway 7 was first assumed by the Department of Highways on February 26, 1920. This route connected Sarnia to Guelph. On April 27, 1921, the route was extended east to the Wellington–Halton boundary. Several days later, on May 4, the highway was extended further east to Hurontario Street in Brampton. The Great Northern Highway, as it was known at the time, was numbered as Highway 7 during the summer of 1925. Assumptions on June 22 and July 2, 1927 extended Highway 7 from Brampton to Peterborough. A portion of the original routing of Highway 12 between Sunderland and Lindsay was renumbered in this process and a concurrency established between Brooklin and Sunderland.

During the early 1930s it was determined that Highway 7 would ultimately serve as a second route between Toronto and Ottawa; at that time the only alternative was Highway 2 and Highway 16. The first step in this undertaking was extending Highway 7 to Madoc along existing settler routes. This section was assumed on September 17, 1930. On November 18, 1931, construction was accelerated between Madoc and Perth as a major depression-relief project when eight contracts were set to build the new route. Over 2700 men blasted rock, dredged muskeg and endured a constant barrage of blood-sucking insects in order to construct this new link. The majority of it followed along a Canadian Pacific right-of-way (now abandoned past the town of Havelock) which had been cleared in 1881, deviating at times to provide a better alignment, avoid large muskeg or to lessen excavation work, most of which was performed by hand. On February 10 and February 17, the route, still incomplete, was surveyed and assumed as an extension of Highway 7. The new highway was opened to traffic in August, 1932.

Between the 1930s and 1960s, Highway 7 connected Sarnia with Perth; Highway 15 continued from Perth to Ottawa. By the mid-1950s, the well established highway network had changed travel characteristics, and the numbering of Highway 15 between Perth and Ottawa was confusing motorists. The Ottawa Board of Trade petitioned the Department of Highways to renumber several highways surrounding the city. The department performed a series of renumberings similar to these recommendations following the extension of Highway 43 on September 8, 1961. Highway 15 was rerouted between Smiths Falls and Carleton Place to travel concurrently with Highway 29; Highway 7 was extended along the former routing from Perth to Carleton Place and signed concurrently with Highway 15 eastward to Ottawa. This brought the highway to its peak length of 700 kilometres (430 mi).