Ontario Highway 11A (Toronto) History - The King's Highways of Ontario

King's Highway 11A was established in the early 1930s as an alternate route to Highway 11 (Yonge Street), in an effort to improve highway access into Downtown Toronto. The alternate route paralleled Highway 11 (Yonge Street) for virtually its entire length, joining Highway 11 at the Hogg's Hollow Bridge near Lansing. Highway 11A was officially designated on January 21, 1931, when the Department of Highways assumed a portion of Avenue Road in North York Township as a new provincial highway. The new highway connected to Queens Park and University Avenue in Toronto. This route formed a 15 km bypass of the existing section of Highway 11 through Toronto. The highway was already paved when it was assumed. In the late 1940s, plans were developed to construct a new controlled-access four-lane freeway (later known as Highway 401) across the northern fringe of Toronto. Construction began on the Toronto Bypass in 1950. A portion of this new freeway was constructed along the right-of-way of Highway 11A, on the approaches to the Hogg's Hollow Bridge. In December 1952, the northernmost 2 km of Highway 11A was redesignated as Highway 401. On January 15, 1954, Highway 11A was officially decommissioned as a King's Highway. However, the highway was retained as a connecting link under the City of Toronto and North York for many years after that time, until the connecting link agreement was finally repealed effective March 31, 1997. Two other unrelated routes were designated as Highway 11A near Bracebridge and Thunder Bay during the 1950s and 1960s.