Ontario Highway 409 History - The King's Highways of Ontario

This short urban freeway connects the approach roadways to Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport with Highway 401. Highway 409 primarily serves as an airport access road, although it also serves as a cut-off route between Highway 401 and the northern leg of Highway 427. Highway 409 was constructed during the 1970s as a six-lane controlled-access freeway. The first leg of Highway 409 was completed and opened to traffic between Highway 401 and Attwell Drive on October 10, 1975. The remainder of Highway 409 was opened to traffic from Attwell Drive to the Toronto International Airport Entrance at the Airport Road Interchange in the Fall of 1978, although access has been possible westerly to Indian Line & Highway 427 by early summer of that year. As a result of the reconstruction of the Pearson International Airport Terminals and the associated approach roadway realignments in the early 2000s, the Ministry of Transportation transferred jurisdiction of the section of Highway 409 between the Highway 427 Interchange and the Pearson Airport Entrance to the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) effective March 7, 2007.

Highway 409 has six through lanes, although additional lanes exist on the approaches to major interchanges. There are no Service Centres located along this short highway, although services are readily available at nearly all interchanges. Unless posted otherwise, the speed limit on Highway 409 is 100 km/h (60 mph). Speed limits have been reduced to 60 km/h (40 mph) on the approaches to Pearson International Airport, due to the complexity of the airport access road configuration west of Highway 427. Exits along Highway 409 are not numbered, but distances along the highway can be calculated by visiting the Highway 409 Mileage Chart page.