Ontario Highway 27 History - The King's Highways of Ontario

King's Highway 27 was a major collector highway which connected Toronto to the Midland area, north of Barrie. The highway was 119 km in length and it essentially existed up until the late 1990s, when it was downloaded to the City of Toronto, the Regional Municipality of York, and the County of Simcoe. However, one tiny section of Highway 27 lying within the Highway 401 Interchange in Toronto was retained in the provincial highway system after 1998. This tiny section of Highway 27 lasted for several years, but was eventually renumbered as a portion of Highway 427 in 2007.

The history of Highway 27 dates back to 1927, when the Barrie-Penetanguishene Road was designated as Provincial Highway 27. The route of Highway 27 originally had two distinct northern terminii. The highway split into two different spur routes at a "Y" junction just outside of Midland. One Highway 27 spur continued north into Penetanguishene, while the other Highway 27 spur turned east towards Midland. The route of Highway 27 via Penetanguishene was 55 km in length, while the route via Midland was slightly shorter, at 53 km in length. The two spur routes existed up until 1947, when Highway 12 was extended westerly from Midland to the "Y" junction. This extension of Highway 12 absorbed the Midland spur of Highway 27 into its route, thereby eliminating the northern Midland terminus on Highway 27.

Between Barrie and Midhurst, Highway 27 ran concurrently with Highway 26 for 7 km. When Highway 27 was first assumed, the entire highway was gravel-surfaced, except for the approach to Penetanguishene. Paving was completed between Midland and Penetanguishene on the two Highway 27 spur routes in 1928. Highway 27 was paved between the "Y" junction near Midland and Waverley in 1929 and 1930. A short section of Highway 27 through Elmvale was also paved in 1930. That same year, Provincial Highway 27 was redesignated as King's Highway 27.

In 1931, the concurrent route of Highway 26 and Highway 27 between Barrie and Midhurst was paved. Highway 27 was paved from Waverley to Midhurst during a series of highway improvement projects that were carried out between 1933 and 1935. Highway 27 was extended southerly from Barrie to Schomberg in 1934. The Department of Highways assumed a series of existing county roads south of Barrie and designated the new route as a portion of Highway 27. The 1934 extension added another 45 km to the length of the highway. Highway 27 was paved between Barrie and Holly in 1937.

By 1936, the Department of Highways had decided to extend Highway 27 from Schomberg southerly to Long Branch, in order to provide a new highway connection between Toronto and Barrie. At that time, Highway 11 was the only major through road connecting Toronto and Barrie. Consequently, traffic congestion was a recurring problem on Highway 11, particularly in the summer when residents of Toronto and surrounding communities utilized the highway to reach Barrie and Cottage Country. The Department of Highways assumed the Schomberg-Kleinburg Road as a new section of Highway 27. This road was already paved when the Department of Highways assumed responsibility for the road in 1936. Unfortunately, there was no direct connection at that time between Kleinburg and the three most important east-west highways in Southern Ontario (those being Highway 7, Highway 2 and the new Middle Road Highway, which later became the Queen Elizabeth Way). The Department recognized that the new Highway 27 extension had to intersect these three routes to the west of Toronto, in order for the new highway to serve as an effective alternate route to Highway 11. In order to make this connection, the Department of Highways assumed two minor roads in Etobicoke Township in 1936, known as Browns Line and Eaton Road, and designated them as part of Highway 27. However, between Elder Mills and Kleinburg, no road existed. Thus, an entirely new highway alignment had to be constructed between Kleinburg and Elder Mills. Construction began on the new road in late 1936, and by 1938, the new Highway 27 extension was completed and opened to traffic through the Humber Valley. Highway 27 was paved from Long Branch to the Highway 5 Junction in 1937. When construction ceased on Highway 27 in 1938, the route was 148 km long. The completion of Highway 27 between Barrie and Toronto finally provided travelers with an alternate route to Highway 11 between these two cities. In 1940, a new cloverleaf interchange and grade separation was constructed at the junction of Highway 27 and the Queen Elizabeth Way north of Long Branch.

Highway 27 fell victim to other highway improvement priorities in the late 1930s. As a result, few additional improvements were made to the highway between Toronto and Barrie after the road's opening in 1938. Highway 27 remained a mostly gravel-surfaced highway between Toronto and Barrie throughout World War II, which limited the highway's appeal to motorists as a practical alternate route to Highway 11. The highway was gravel-surfaced from the Highway 5 Junction to Kleinburg and from Schomberg to Holly, located about 5 miles south of Barrie. Paving operations resumed in 1945, when Highway 27 was paved from the Highway 5 Junction northerly to the Malton Road. The highway was paved through Thornton and Cookstown in 1946. In 1949, Highway 27 was paved from Malton Road northerly to Kleinburg. A small diversion was completed near Bell's Lake between Nobleton and Schomberg in 1949, which was paved the following year. In 1951, the last remaining gravel sections on Highway 27 between Schomberg and Thornton were paved. The final paving contract was completed in October 1951, thus completing Highway 27 as a first class paved alternate route to Highway 11 between Toronto and Barrie.

Ironically, this new Highway 27 "Bypass" served its role as a practical alternate route to Highway 11 for only a few short months in late 1951, before it too was bypassed by another new highway which had been under construction since 1946. The new Toronto-Barrie Highway (Highway 400) was unofficially opened to through traffic in December 1951, only two months after paving had been completed on Highway 27. This modern, new divided highway greatly eased traffic congestion between Toronto and Barrie by bypassing both Highway 27 and Highway 11. The importance of Highway 27 between Toronto and Barrie was greatly reduced as a result of the new Toronto-Barrie Highway, with the exception of one section of Highway 27 which followed Browns Line through Etobicoke Township. This section of Highway 27 was selected to become a link in the Toronto Interceptor Road in the late 1940s. This proposed four-lane ring road would orbit the City of Toronto and allow through traffic to bypass the city entirely. Between 1953 and 1955, Highway 27 was converted into a four-lane freeway with interchanges between the Queen Elizabeth Way and the Richview Side Road (today's Eglinton Avenue). Improvements were also made to the existing cloverleaf interchange at Highway 27 and the Queen Elizabeth Way. This highway widening project, in conjunction with the east-west portion of the Toronto Bypass (which was designated as Highway 401 in 1952), evolved into an integral part of the Greater Toronto Area's transportation network.

In 1969, a short section of Highway 27 between the Queen Elizabeth Way and Lakeshore Blvd (Highway 2) was decommissioned. This former section of Highway 27 is now known as Browns Line. Between 1967 and 1972, the freeway section of Highway 27 was extensively rebuilt from the Queen Elizabeth Way northerly to Highway 401. The freeway's existing four-lane cross section was widened and an express-collector lane system was introduced. After the reconstruction project was completed in 1972, Highway 27 was redesignated as Highway 427 between the Queen Elizabeth Way and Highway 401. This highway renumbering reduced the length of Highway 27 by 8 km. For the next 35 years, the southern terminus of Highway 27 was located at the merge with Highway 427, just south of the Highway 401 Interchange. In 1982, the north leg of Highway 27 was renumbered as Highway 93, in order to improve the route numbering logic in the area. Highway 93 assumed the routing of Highway 27 between Waverley and Penetanguishene. This change in route numbers shortened Highway 27 by another 18 km. In 1997, Highway 27 was rerouted along Highway 400 between Essa Road and Bayfield Street in Barrie. This new routing bypassed the complicated and rather congested section of Highway 27 through downtown Barrie.

Highway 27 was downloaded between Toronto and Penetanguishene in 1998, except for a tiny 1.5 km section of the highway lying within the Highway 401 & Highway 427 interchange in Toronto. The tiny section of Highway 27 was retained in the provincial highway system because it was contained within the MTO-owned property surrounding the interchange. However, this section of Highway 27 merely served as a set of ramps between Highway 427 and the downloaded sections of Highway 27 lying to the north of the interchange. For a number of years, the Ministry of Transportation signed this small ramp segment as Highway 27, but this practice was discontinued during 2007. The existing Highway 27 route markers along this ramp section were replaced with new route markers, indicating that it is now considered to be a part of Highway 427. While the Highway 27 designation is still indicated on some older overhead and ground-mounted freeway signs, it now appears that the MTO has chosen to replace the Highway 27 designation with the Highway 427 designation.

On January 1, 1998, all other portions of Highway 27 north of Highway 401 were downloaded to the City of Toronto, the Regional Municipality of York and the County of Simcoe. The road is now officially known as York Regional Road 27 and Simcoe County Road 27, although the road is almost always referred to as "Highway 27" by motorists. In Toronto, the highway has retained the official name of "Highway 27", because the City does not employ a posted road numbering system. Highway 27 passes through several large towns along its route. The principal towns and cities along the highway are Toronto, Vaughan, Nobleton, Schomberg, Bond Head, Cookstown, Barrie, Midhurst and Elmvale. Services are available in most larger communities along Highway 27. Most sections of Highway 27 are two lanes, but some passing lanes have been constructed in places to facilitate the overtaking of slower vehicles using the highway. Highway 27 has some multilane sections between Toronto and Kleinburg and between Barrie and Midhurst. Unless posted otherwise, the speed limit on Highway 27 is 80 km/h (50 m.p.h.). Please visit the Highway 27 Mileage Chart page for a list of mileage reference points along Highway 27.