Present Day Highway 400 Photographs (Barrie to Port Severn)
Left - Facing north along Essa Road (Hwy 27) towards the underpass at Hwy 400 in Barrie. Compare the present-day photo seen above to this 1949 Photo of the Essa Road (Hwy 27) structure.
(Photograph taken on August 2, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - Western side of the Essa Road (Hwy 27) Underpass in Barrie. Structure completed in 1947.
(Photograph taken on August 2, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - Facing north along Southbound Hwy 400 from the Essa Road (Hwy 27) Underpass in Barrie.
(Photograph taken on August 2, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - View underneath the Northbound Hwy 400 span crossing Essa Road in Barrie.
(Photograph taken on August 2, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - The dual 1947 structures over Essa Road on Hwy 400 were spliced together in the 1970s when the highway was widened to six lanes. A narrow new span was constructed in the highway's median between the Northbound and Southbound Hwy 400 structures, as seen in this photo.
(Photograph taken on August 2, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - Facing north along the Northbound Hwy 400 lanes from the Essa Road (Hwy 27) Underpass. A powerful tornado ripped through Barrie in May 1985, crossing Hwy 400 at this exact point. The Barrie Tornado destroyed many buildings on the hill immediately adjacent to the Essa Road Interchange, resulting in widespread damage and numerous casualties. In addition, the storm severely damaged this section of Hwy 400. Sections of the box-beam median barrier, the guide rails and several highway signs that were in the tornado's path were torn off their posts by the high winds.
(Photograph taken on August 2, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - Hwy 400 ramp terminals at Essa Road in Barrie. Note the oversized "Do Not Enter" and "One Way" signs that were installed recently in an attempt to prevent wrong-way movements on the exit ramp from Northbound Hwy 400.
(Photograph taken on August 2, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - Facing north along Northbound Hwy 400 towards the Essa Road (Hwy 27) Underpass. Note the narrow width of the acceleration lane onto Hwy 400 which was required in order to accommodate a six-lane highway across the existing Essa Road structure. Compare this present-day photo of the Essa Road Interchange to this mid-1950s postcard view of the same interchange.
(Photograph taken on August 2, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - Eastern side of the Essa Road (Hwy 27) Underpass on Hwy 400.
(Photograph taken on August 2, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - Facing south along Essa Road (Hwy 27) towards the underpass at Hwy 400.
(Photograph taken on August 2, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - Eastern side of the Tiffin Street Underpass on Hwy 400 in Barrie.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - Western side of the Tiffin Street Underpass on Hwy 400 in Barrie.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - Single concrete beam railing on the Tiffin Street Underpass. Structure completed in 1950.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - The Tiffin Street Underpass is a single span concrete rigid frame structure that was poured in place and then back-filled with earth. Note the impressions in the bridge's concrete abutment walls, left by the original timber plank forms from when the bridge was poured.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - Eastern side of the Barrie Railway Overhead on Hwy 400 near Tiffin Street. Structure completed in 1950.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - Western side of the Barrie Railway Overhead on Hwy 400. Note the space provided below the structure for a future second rail line (at right).
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - Facing south along Hwy 400 from the Dunlop Street (Hwy 90) Overpass in Barrie. Compare the present-day photo above with this historical photo taken in 1963, before Hwy 400 was widened to six lanes through Barrie.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - Dunlop Street (Hwy 90) Overpass on Hwy 400 in Barrie. This interesting two-span steel rigid frame structure was completed in 1955, as part of a much larger project to provide a direct interchange access to Downtown Barrie. Ultimately, this new interchange served as the new route for Hwy 90 approaching Barrie. Up until 1960, Hwy 90 followed Tiffin Street on its route between Barrie and Angus, but the highway was eventually rerouted via Dunlop Street so that it connected directly with Hwy 400.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - Facing east along Dunlop Street (Hwy 90) towards the overpass across Hwy 400. Several stands of trees were planted within the Dunlop Street Interchange when it was built in the 1950s. As a result, this is one of the more photogenic interchanges along Hwy 400 between Toronto and Barrie.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - Close-up of the original steel balustrades on the Dunlop Street Overpass. Until recently, the Dunlop Street Bridge was the oldest structure along Hwy 400 in the Barrie area that still retained its original steel railings. All of the other structures in the area have either been rehabilitated or widened, except for the Anne Street and St. Vincent Street Overpasses, which are newer. However, the Dunlop Street Bridge was rehabilitated in 2009.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - Facing west along Dunlop Street (Hwy 90) across the overpass at Hwy 400.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - Facing north along Hwy 400 from the Dunlop Street (Hwy 90) Overpass in Barrie.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - The ramps for the Hwy 400 & Hwy 90 Interchange are in a "Parclo B" configuration, meaning that the loop ramps are on the downstream side of the grade separation. This ramp configuration is seldom used on Ontario freeways. However, given the angle at which these two highways cross, this ramp configuration was far more practical than the standard "Parclo A" configuration.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - Facing east along Hwy 90 from the Hwy 400 Interchange. One of the biggest drawbacks of a "Parclo B" is that the loop ramps carrying exiting traffic from the freeway merges with the surface street just before the entrance ramp departs the surface street on the same side. As a result, there is a greater risk of wrong-way movements on the exit ramps, since drivers may turn off the surface street too early and inadvertantly end up going the wrong way down the freeway. The MTO has recently installed oversized "Do Not Enter" signs at the loop exit ramp terminals, to reduce the likelihood of an inattentive driver from entering the freeway in the wrong direction.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - Facing east along Dunlop Street (Hwy 90) across the overpass at Hwy 400.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - Northern side of the Dunlop Street (Hwy 90) Overpass on Hwy 400 in Barrie.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - Dual spans of the Craighurst Railway Overhead on Hwy 400 north of Barrie.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - The northbound Hwy 400 span was completed in 1959. Note the metal steam guard above the railway tracks at right, which protected the structural steel girders from corrosion from the exhaust expelled by older steam-powered railway locomotives.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - View underneath the northbound (1959) Hwy 400 span. The original 1959 structure was widened slightly on the eastern side in 1979 when a deceleration lane was built to service the adjacent Horseshoe Valley Road Interchange.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - The southbound Hwy 400 span was completed in 1979, when Hwy 400 was widened from two to four lanes. The 1979 structure is almost identical in design to its 1959 counterpart.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - Date stamp (1979) on the Craighurst Railway Overhead.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - Western side of the Craighurst Railway Overhead north of Barrie.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - The most peculiar feature of the Craighurst Overhead is the pier design, which is comprised of a series of pile-driven steel "H" beams positioned at varying angles.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - View of the southbound (1979) span's superstructure and steel "H" beam bents.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - The northbound (1959) structure has similar steel "H" beam bents. The bents were angled to provide greater structural rigidity in a area with relatively poor soil conditions.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - Profile view of the 1959 pier, showing the angled "H" beam bents.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - The Horseshoe Valley Road deceleration lane extension has similar steel "H" beam piers.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - These plywood forms beneath the deck of the 1959 structure are a sign of concrete deterioration.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - The northbound (1959) Hwy 400 structure was reconstructed with a new bridge deck in 2007-2008.
(Photograph taken on June 30, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - Long exit ramp for Lower Big Chute Road on Hwy 400 near Coldwater. This ramp was actually the original route of Hwy 400 until the 1970s, when a new connection was built to Hwy 12 & Hwy 69 at Waubaushene. The ramp now serves as an access road to nearby Coldwater.
(Photograph taken on June 4, 2004 - © Cameron Bevers)
Left - Abandoned two-lane Hwy 400 alignment at Lower Big Chute Road Exit. This part of Hwy 400 was bypassed in the 1970s by the current four-lane highway.
(Photograph taken on June 4, 2004 - © Cameron Bevers)
Right - The Lower Big Chute Road ramp is the longest freeway off-ramp in Ontario. The former two-lane Hwy 400 alignment was converted to a one-lane off ramp, which can be seen at left. At this point, the off-ramp joins Lower Big Chute Road (at right), and heads east towards Hwy 12 at Coldwater.
(Photograph taken on June 4, 2004 - © Cameron Bevers)
