Ontario Highway 48 History - The King's Highways of Ontario

King's Highway 48 is a major arterial highway which links Markham to Highway 12 near Beaverton. Until recently, the highway was considerably longer, extending from Toronto to Highway 35 at Coboconk. Large sections of Highway 48 were decommissioned during the hastily-executed highway downloading of 1997-1998. About 50% of Highway 48 has been downloaded since the late 1990s, so the highway is only 66 km long today.

Highway 48 was first designated as a provincial highway in the late 1930s. Initially, Highway 48 was just a short connector highway which linked Port Bolster to Highway 12 near Beaverton. This tiny highway was only 10 km in length when it was first assumed as a new King's Highway by the Department of Highways (DHO) on March 24, 1937. During the 1950s and 1960s, Highway 48 was extended considerably and began to take on a more important role in Ontario's provincial highway network. The highway was extended south from Port Bolster to Toronto along the Markham Road in the mid 1950s. The Markham Road was designated as Highway 48 on February 10, 1954, adding over 70 km to the length of the highway. Highway 48 was extended northerly from Highway 12 near Beaverton to the Highway 46 Junction at Bolsover during the early 1960s. On April 20, 1961, the DHO assumed the Bolsover Road between the Highway 12 Junction at Gamebridge and the Highway 46 Junction and designated this road as Highway 48. In order to connect this new section of Highway 48 to the existing southern section, Highway 48 was designated concurrently with Highway 12 between Beaverton and Gamebridge. In the mid 1960s, a new bypass was constructed around the south side of Beaverton, bypassing the awkward old route of Highway 48 through Port Bolster and Beaverton. The Beaverton Bypass was completed and opened to traffic on November 4, 1966. A portion of the old route of Highway 48 through Beaverton became Highway 48B. In 1975, the section of Highway 46 from Bolsover to the Highway 35 Junction at Coboconk was redesignated as Highway 48, adding another 26 km to the length of the highway.

Over the past 15 years, substantial portions of Highway 48 were downloaded to municipalities. On April 1, 1995, a small section of Highway 48 from the Highway 401 Interchange in Toronto to the Highway 7 Junction in Markham was turned over to the City of Toronto and York Region. The former highway is now known as Markham Road in Toronto and York Road 68 in York Region. Additional sections of Highway 48 south of Major Mackenzie Drive were transferred to York Region on March 7, 2007. These sections of Highway 48 have been renamed as York Road 68. On January 1, 1998, the entire northern section of Highway 48 between the Highway 12 Junction and the Highway 35 Junction in Coboconk was transferred to Durham Region and Victoria County (now the City of Kawartha Lakes). This section of the highway is known now as Durham Highway 48 and Kawartha Lakes Road 48. The former concurrent routing of Highway 12 & Highway 48 near Beaverton was discontinued several years ago. As a result, Highway 48 now ends at the Highway 12 Junction south of Beaverton.

Highway 48 traverses a mostly rural portion of Central Ontario. The highway passes through a handful of small towns along its 70 km route, but the only large town is Markham, located at the southern end of the highway. Most sections of Highway 48 are two lanes, but there are some short undivided four-lane sections near towns. Passing lanes appear periodically along Highway 48. Services are available quite frequently along this highway. The speed limit on Highway 48 is 80 km/h (50 mph), unless posted otherwise. Please visit the Highway 48 Mileage Chart page for a list of mileage reference points along Highway 48.