Ontario Highway 40B History - The King's Highways of Ontario

King's Highway 40B served as a Business Route through Downtown Sarnia for almost 30 years. Highway 40B was created in 1965, when a new bypass was built around Sarnia. The construction of the Sarnia Bypass during the 1960s resulted in changes to the existing route of Highway 40 in the area. Once construction of the new Sarnia Bypass ceased in 1965, Highway 40 was rerouted around the city along the new bypass highway. The Sarnia Bypass was known by a temporary designation (Highway 40A) up until 1965, after which time the route was renumbered as Highway 40.

The removal of the Highway 40 designation through Downtown Sarnia resulted in a convoluted series of city-signed routes. Since these routes were almost entirely under municipal jurisdiction, they are rather difficult to ascertain. There is also conflicting information about these routes in historical documentation. What is known for certain is that the Department of Highways of Ontario (DHO) did have an "official" designated route of Highway 40B (formerly Highway 40) which led into the city centre. The Highway 40B Business Route originally began at the intersection of Vidal Street and Churchill Road (the Sarnia Bypass) and followed Vidal Street northerly towards the city centre. Near the intersection of Campbell Street, Highway 40B entered a one-way street system. Northbound traffic on Highway 40B followed Brock Street, while southbound Highway 40B traffic followed Vidal Street. This one-way street system came to an end where Vidal Street and Brock Street ended at London Road (Highway 7). This route via Vidal Street and Brock Street between the Sarnia Bypass (Churchill Road) up to London Road had been designated as a Municipal Connecting Link by an Order-in-Council back in 1962, at a time when this route was still known as Highway 40. This Municipal Connecting Link designation remained in place after Highway 40 was renumbered as Highway 40B in 1965. However, at no time did the Municipal Connecting Link route of Highway 40B extend north beyond London Road. All mileage logs produced during the 1970s and 1980s indicate London Road as Highway 40B's northern terminus. Following the completion of Highway 40 (New) south from Sarnia towards Wallaceburg in the 1970s, the Highway 40B designation was apparently extended easterly via Churchill Road between Vidal Street and the relocated inland route of Highway 40.

The new route of Highway 40B was first shown on the 1966 Edition of the Official Ontario Road Map (See Map). However, the route shown on the Official Road Map was different than the official Municipal Connecting Link route which was designated by an Order-in-Council in 1962. Rather than follow the one-way street system via Brock Street and Vidal Street, the route of Highway 40B shown on the Official Road Map turned westerly from Vidal Street onto Confederation Street. Highway 40B then turned northerly and followed Christina Street between Confederation Street and Wellington Street. Highway 40B then turned westerly for one block to Front Street. The highway then followed Front Street northerly through Downtown Sarnia to the intersection of Front Street and Exmouth Street. Here, Highway 40B turned westerly via Exmouth Street and ended at Highway 402 just east at the Bluewater Bridge Entrance. This route continued to be shown on all Official Road Maps up until the 1976 Edition. On the 1980-1981 Edition, the route of Highway 40B was amended so that it followed the one-way street system via Brock Street and Vidal Street northerly to London Road. The route of Highway 40B then continued over to Front Street via London Road (See Map). As before, the route of Highway 40B turned westerly towards the Bluewater Bridge from Front Street via Exmouth Street. Following the construction of a new interchange at Front Street in the early 1980s, Highway 40B was rerouted northerly to Highway 402 via Front Street north of Exmouth Street (See Map). This route continued to be shown on the Official Road Map more or less unmodified up until the 1992-1993 Edition, after which the route of Highway 40B was no longer marked.

DHO highway inventories from the mid-1960s suggest that Highway 40B did indeed end at London Road (Highway 7), which contradicts what is shown on the Official Road Map. The 1968 and 1970 DHO Mileage Logs indicate that Highway 40B followed the designated Municipal Connecting Link route via the one-way street system (Brock Street and Vidal Street) northerly to London Road. However, rather than end at London Road, the route of Highway 40B was then indicated in the mileage logs to follow London Road westerly to Front Street and then northerly towards the Bluewater Bridge, as it was illustrated on the 1980-1981 Edition of the Official Ontario Road Map. The mileage reported for Highway 40B up until 1970 was 4.0 miles southbound and 4.1 miles northbound, with the difference in distances due to the unequal lengths of the one-way street system. Mileage logs produced throughout the 1970s and 1980s indicated that Highway 40B ended at Highway 7 (London Road) and did not continue any further north. Between 1970 and 1989, the lengths for Highway 40B were consistently shown as being 3.2 miles (5.1 km) in the mileage logs. It should also be noted that the Churchill Road portion of the Business Route was listed under the heading for Old Highway 40 in many mileage logs, rather than under the Highway 40B heading.

Interestingly, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications acquired a new section of Highway 40B within the Village of Point Edward, which was apparently considered to be a separate northern section of the Sarnia route. The designation of the extension of Highway 40B from the end of the old Old Bluewater Bridge Road westerly to Marina Road was designated as a King's Highway by an Order-in-Council, effective May 3, 1978. The Old Bluewater Bridge Road was built back in the 1930s and had been under provincial jurisdiction as far back as 1936. The Old Bluewater Bridge Road roughly follows the present-day route of Venetian Boulevard northwesterly from Exmouth Street. Historically, the Old Bluewater Bridge Road was signed as Highway 7 & Highway 40. This route appears in the 1978 Mileage Logs to be a section of Highway 40B, but was listed separately from the Sarnia route of Highway 40B. In addition, the 1978 Mileage Logs indicate that the former route of the mysterious Highway 40C via Front Street between Exmouth Street and Highway 402 as a northerly continuation of Highway 40B. The western extension of Highway 40B via Exmouth Street and the Old Bluewater Bridge Road between Front Street and Marina Road in the Village of Point Edward was also known as a 7000-Series Highway (Highway 7172). Accordingly, this western leg of Highway 40B out to Marina Road may not have actually been a signed route.

Between 1984 and 1995, the route of Highway 40B was gradually discontinued. The first sections to vanish were the connections to Highway 402 within the Village of Point Edward. Jurisdiction over the section of Highway 40B via Front Street between Exmouth Street and Highway 402, along with the western extension of Highway 40B via Venetian Boulevard (Highway 7172) were transferred from the province to Point Edward by an Order-in-Council, effective November 15, 1984. The Municipal Connecting Link designation for the section of Highway 40B along Vidal Street from Churchill Road northerly to Confederation Street lasted until the early 1990s, when it was revoked by an Order-in-Council, effective April 28, 1993. The Municipal Connecting Link designation for the section of Highway 40B along Vidal Street and Brock Street from Confederation Street northerly to London Road was revoked by an Order-in-Council, effective April 27, 1994. This left only a short section of Highway 40B (Old Highway 40) via Churchill Road with a Municipal Connecting Link status. However, this final section of Highway 40B between Vidal Street and the beginning of provincial highway jurisdiction (Highway 40) at Tashmoo Avenue was revoked on March 22, 1995. The route of Highway 40B was reportedly still being signed intermittently along some city streets until the early 2000s. At least one overhead sign on Highway 402 still indicated the old exit to Highway 40B until the approach to the Bluewater Bridge was reconstructed a number of years ago.

How I have interpreted this conflicting information is that Highway 40B was always signed via the route shown on the 1980 to 1992 Official Road Maps (See Map), but that the route of Highway 40B situated between the end of the Vidal Street and Brock Street one-way street system at London Road and the intersection of Front Street and Exmouth Street wasn't ever designated as a Municipal Connecting Link route. North of Exmouth Street, Highway 40B was signed via Front Street only, with traffic bound for Downtown Sarnia encouraged to exit from Highway 402 at Front Street. It also appears from the various mileage logs that MTO considered the north (Point Edward) and south (Sarnia) Highway 40B routes to be separate and distinct from each other, with the gap between them merely signed by the City of Sarnia in order to keep the route continuous.