Ontario Highway 102 (#1) History - The King's Highways of Ontario

King's Highway 102 was created in 1947, when the four-lane divided highway known as Highway 8D between Dundas and Hamilton was renumbered as Highway 102. This highway had initially been built in the 1930s as a bypass to divert through traffic away from a series of steep hills and sharp curves on Highway 8 at Binkley's Hollow, located between Hamilton and Dundas. The new divided highway was completed and officially opened to traffic in 1937. The Hamilton-Dundas Highway was one of the first divided highways ever built in Ontario and it served as a model for other four-lane divided highways built in the late 1930s, the most notable of which were the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) and the initial phases of Highway 2A (later known as Highway 401).

Although the highway was officially designated as Highway 8D from 1937 until it was renumbered as Highway 102 in 1947, this road was more often referred to as the Dundas Diversion or the Hamilton-Dundas Highway. Highway 102 began at the Highway 2 & Highway 8 Junction (Main Street West) near McMaster University and ended at the Highway 8 Junction in Downtown Dundas, at the intersection of Main Street/Cross Street and King Street. The section of the highway from Main Street/Cross Street to York Street was not under provincial jurisdiction. This portion of Highway 102 had always been under the jurisdiction of the Town of Dundas, although it was considered to be a Municipal Connecting Link. Highway 102 was retained in the provincial highway system until 1964, when it was formally decommissioned as a King's Highway. All sections of Highway 102 that were under the jurisdiction of the Department of Highways were transferred to the City of Hamilton and the Town of Dundas, effective April 1, 1964. Former Highway 102 is known as Cootes Drive and King Street East today. A different, unrelated Highway 102 has existed in the Thunder Bay area since the early 1970s.