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This page contains historical photos of Ontario's King's Highway 2 dating from 1950 to 1959. All photographs displayed on
this page were taken by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, unless specifically noted otherwise. Historical photographs are arranged in approximate chronological
order. Click on any thumbnail to see a larger image!
Please note that all photographs displayed on this
website are protected by copyright. These photographs must not be reproduced, published,
electronically stored or copied, distributed, or posted onto other websites without
my written permission. If you want to use photos from this website, please
email me first for permission. Thank-you!
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Page 3: Historical King's Highway 2 Photographs (1950 to 1959)
Above - Overlaying concrete pavement with asphalt on Hwy 2, 4 1/2 miles east of Windsor. Photo taken on June 5, 1950. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1950) 
Left - New Salmon River Bridge on Hwy 2 in Napanee in 1951. The new structure bypassed the old one-lane bridge at left. Photo taken on March 27, 1951. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1951) Right - Another view of the new concrete bridge over the Salmon River on Hwy 2 in Napanee. Photo taken on March 27, 1951. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1951) 
Left - New asphalt pavement and zone striping on Hwy 2, 12 1/2 miles east of Windsor. Photo taken on June 5, 1950. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1950) Right - New pavement and zone painting on Hwy 2, 1 mile west of Princeton. Photo taken on July 13, 1951. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1951) 
Left - View of Hwy 2, 3 1/2 miles west of Trenton. Photo taken on June 13, 1950. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1951) Right - Dundas Street (Hwy 2) in Downtown London approaching Hwy 4 & Hwy 22 Junction (1951) (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1951) 
Above - Facing west along Ouellette Avenue towards Downtown Windsor. Photo taken on July 10, 1951. See an
Enlarged Photo Here. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1951) Note the signpost at right, which bears no fewer than four King's Highway shields. Although the route numbers are difficult to discern in this photo, the four marked routes are Hwy 2, Hwy 3B, Hwy 39 and Hwy 98. For a number of years, all four of these King's Highways were signed concurrently along Ouellette Avenue into Downtown Windsor. However, due to the construction of the E.C. Row Expressway and the decommissioning of Hwy 39 and Hwy 98, three of these highway routes were eventually removed from Ouellette Avenue. Only the Hwy 3B route designation survived until the 1990s. 
Left - New Hwy 2 diversion 3 miles east of Colborne. Photo taken on October 9, 1951. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1951) Right - Zone painting on Hwy 2, 8 miles west of Port Hope. Photo taken on October 9, 1951. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1951) 
Left - Eastern Steel Salt Spreader at work on Hwy 2 (Kingston Road) near the Rouge River. Photo taken on December 5, 1951. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1951) Right - New Department of Highways' Garage west of Lambeth on Hwy 2. Photo taken on June 6, 1952. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1952) 
Left - Winter snow-clearing equipment at the Lambeth Garage on Hwy 2. Photo taken on June 6, 1952. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1952) Right - Interior of the Department of Highways' Garage west of Lambeth on Hwy 2. Photo taken on June 6, 1952. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1952) 
Left - Department of Highways' Sign Truck at the Port Hope District Garage. Photo taken on July 17, 1952. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1952) Right - Resurfaced entrance to the Eastwood Truck Scales and Scale House on Hwy 2 near Woodstock. Photo taken on August 17, 1954. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1954) 
Left - Paving operations on Hwy 2, two miles east of Dickenson's Landing in 1954. This photo and the one at right show sections of the original route of Hwy 2,
which were flooded as a result of the St. Lawrence Seaway construction in the late 1950s. Between 1954 and 1957, approximately 37 miles of Hwy 2 had to be relocated
inland onto higher ground to bypass those parts of the valley which lay below the proposed Seaway flood line. The section of Hwy 2 shown here in this 1954 photo is
now submerged under the St. Lawrence River near Moulinette Island south of Long Sault. Photo taken on July 20, 1954. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1954) Right - Newly-paved section of Hwy 2, one mile west of Farran's Point in 1954. This section of Hwy 2 was flooded four years after this photo was taken, and now lies submerged under the St. Lawrence River near Morrison Island southwest of Ingleside. Photo taken on July 20, 1954. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1954) 
Above - Resurfaced section of Hwy 2, 6 1/2 miles west of Odessa. Photo taken on July 23, 1954. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1954) 
Above - New Parry Bridge over the Thames River on Keil Drive in Chatham in 1955. This municipal road project proved to be so effective in diverting through
traffic around Downtown Chatham, that the Department of Highways eventually incorporated Keil Drive and the Parry Bridge into the route of a Hwy 2 Bypass around
Chatham in 1957. Photo taken on July 6, 1955. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1955) 
Left - Facing south along Hwy 2 & Hwy 6 (York Boulevard) at the Hamilton Northwest Entrance Bridge #3. This high-level structure was situated between
Hamilton and Aldershot. Prior to the construction of Hwy 403 in the 1960s, all traffic approaching Downtown Hamilton from Toronto and Burlington passed across this
bridge. The two-lane structure seen here was replaced in the 1970s with a new four-lane structure. See an
Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken on July 16, 1955. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 2022) Right - Hamilton Northwest Entrance Bridge #3 on Hwy 2 & Hwy 6 (York Boulevard), facing north towards Aldershot. This large steel deck truss structure was originally constructed by the DPHO in 1922. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken on July 16, 1955. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 2022) 
Above - Facing east along Hwy 2 & Hwy 33 (Main Street) approaching Downtown Trenton. Photo taken on June 28, 1956. See an
Enlarged Photo Here. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1956) 
Above - Aerial view of Hwy 401 in 1956 facing west from the Lansing Road Interchange (today's Port Union Road) in Scarborough. This photo shows the start of
the Toronto Bypass in the background and the old bypassed portion of Hwy 2A leading to Hwy 2 (Kingston Road). Compare this view of the highway in 1956, with this
2004 aerial photo showing the area as it appears in more recent years. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1956) 
Above - Channelized right turn ramps at the junction of Old Hwy 2 and Relocated Hwy 2 in Cornwall in 1956. This interesting view shows Brookdale Avenue
(Relocated Hwy 2) facing south towards Second Avenue (Old Hwy 2), just before the construction of the Seaway International Bridge began at right. Photo taken on August 8, 1956. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1956) 
Above - Zone striping on a section of Relocated Hwy 2, four miles west of Cornwall in 1956. Approximately 37 miles of Hwy 2 was relocated onto a new alignment
in the late 1950s to accommodate the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Most of the original Hwy 2 alignment between Iroquois and Cornwall lay below the
proposed Seaway flood line and was closed to through traffic before the valley was flooded in 1958. Photo taken on August 8, 1956. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1956) 
Above - Newly-installed overhead guide signs on westbound Hwy 401 approaching the Lansing Road (now Port Union Road) Interchange in Scarborough in 1957. These
overhead signs were installed only moments before this photo was taken. In fact, the DHO's sign truck can be seen parked on the shoulder just a short distance up the
highway. As Ontario's freeway interchanges became progressively more complex in the 1950s, the DHO made increasing use of overhead signs to provide positive guidance
to motorists approaching major decision points such as this. This photo is also rather noteworthy in that it was the very first highway photo published on the front
cover of the Department's long-running monthly employee news bulletin "DHO News" in May, 1957. Photo taken on April 10, 1957. See an
Enlarged Photo Here. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1957) 
Left - Overhead signs marking Hwy 2 and Hwy 401 (the Toronto Bypass) at the Hwy 2A & Hwy 401 Interchange in Scarborough in 1957. This interesting photo
shows some of Ontario's earliest overhead freeway junction signs. Although these overhead guide signs may seem relatively simple when compared to our freeway signs
today, these early experiments in overhead guide sign installation ultimately led to the development of the freeway sign standards that are in use today. The
westbound "exit" of Hwy 401 to the Toronto Bypass (which was a newer extension of Hwy 401) was particularly counterintuitive to motorists. Heading westbound, the
apparent "through highway" at this interchange was actually an exit from Hwy 401 onto a different route (Hwy 2A). These overhead guide signs helped to convey the
message that by continuing straight ahead, motorists would end up on Kingston Road (Hwy 2) and that one had to keep right at the fork to stay on Hwy 401. Photo taken
on May 13, 1957. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1957) Right - Eastern terminus of the Toronto Bypass (Hwy 401) at Hwy 2A in Scarborough, facing west near the Lansing Road Interchange (today's Port Union Road). When the new Toronto Bypass section of Hwy 401 was built in the mid-1950s, it left behind a short 2-mile section of the original Toronto-Oshawa Highway (Hwy 2A). When it was first completed in 1947, the Toronto-Oshawa Highway (Hwy 2A) continued straight ahead to join Hwy 2 (Kingston Road) at West Hill. During the early 1970s, this confusing interchange was reconfigured so that Hwy 401 became the "through highway" at the interchange and Hwy 2A became the exiting highway. The old interchange configuration seen here likely caught many early Hwy 401 motorists by surprise heading westbound, when they discovered (most likely too late) that they were supposed to keep right at the fork to stay on Hwy 401. Although the new overhead signing helped, the revised interchange at Hwy 2A & Hwy 401 built in the 1970s was more in keeping with motorists' expectations. Photo taken on May 13, 1957. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1957) 
Above - Highways Minister James N. Allan and Woodstock Mayor C.M. Tatham shake hands after using an axe to chop down a "Road Closed to Traffic" sign at the
Hwy 2 Cloverleaf at the eastern entrance to the London-Woodstock Bypass section of Hwy 401. Official opening ceremonies were held in both Woodstock and London on
Friday, May 31, 1957, to mark the completion of a 38-mile section of Hwy 401 between Hwy 2 and Hwy 4. This section of Hwy 401 took 5 years to construct at a cost (in
1957 Dollars) of $19.7 million, the equivalent of roughly $175 million today. Photo taken on May 31, 1957. See an
Enlarged Photo Here. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1957) 
Above - Facing north along the Queen Elizabeth Way at the new Hwy 2 (North Shore Boulevard) Interchange in Burlington in 1958. Prior to the completion of the
underpass and interchange, Hwy 2 crossed the Queen Elizabeth Way at an at-grade intersection. Note the small plywood guide sign at right, advising motorists of the
upcoming Hwy 2 West exit ramp. In an effort to improve on sign legibility on Ontario's freeways, small plywood guide signs such as this example were phased out and
replaced with ground-mounted extruded aluminum signs in the late 1960s and early 1970s. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1958) 
Above - Junction of Hwy 2 & Hwy 401 (Thousand Islands Parkway) near Brockville in 1958, facing west towards Gananoque. For many years, these two highways
joined together at a skewed at-grade intersection. A new bridge and interchange was built near here as part of the new Brockville Bypass section of Hwy 401 in 1959.
Photo taken on August 8, 1958. See an Enlarged Photo Here. (Photo © Archives of Ontario - Series RG-14-151-5-15, Photo #999) 
Above - Facing east towards Downtown Toronto along the newly-completed Gardiner Expressway from Sunnyside Beach in 1958. This photo shows the first section of
the Gardiner Expressway about 2 months after it was officially opened to traffic between the Humber River and Jameson Avenue on August 8, 1958. The new six-lane
expressway was built to relieve traffic congestion on adjacent Lakeshore Boulevard (Hwy 2) at right, which served as the main western access route into Downtown
Toronto prior to the expressway's construction. Throughout the 1960s, the Gardiner Expressway was extended easterly from Jameson Avenue through Downtown Toronto to
Leslie Street, mostly via an elevated highway structure. The expressway itself was built by Metropolitan Toronto, although the earlier phases of the expressway's
construction was funded partially by the Province of Ontario under a municipal roads cost-sharing program. Although the Gardiner Expressway was signed as Hwy 2 by
Metropolitan Toronto, it was never in fact designated as a provincial highway. Jurisdiction, ownership and administration of the expressway has always been undertaken
by the City of Toronto. On November 27, 2023, the Premier of Ontario announced the "upload" of the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway from the city to the
province, but there have been few details released yet about what the province's involvement will actually be in terms of administration, moving forward. Whether
either of these expressways become designated links in the provincial highway system still remains to be seen, and will certainly be the subject of further
discussion between both levels of government in the months ahead. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
Photo taken on October 3, 1958. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1958) 
Above - Circa 1959 postcard showing an aerial view of the construction of the Gardiner Expressway (Hwy 2) in Toronto at Jameson Avenue. (Photo courtesy of Metro Toronto News Company, Scarborough) 
Above - Replacement of the Port Credit Bridge on Hwy 2 in 1959. The original concrete bowstring arch bridge at right was constructed by the Toronto
and Hamilton Highway Commission in 1918, years before the Lakeshore Road was designated as King's Highway 2. During the bridge reconstruction project,
Hwy 2 traffic was diverted over the Credit River across temporary Bailey Bridges. (Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1959) |
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