Ontario Highway 427 Photographs - Page 1 - History of Ontario's Kings Highways

Above - Cloverleaf interchange construction at Hwy 27 (Brown's Line) and the Queen Elizabeth Way, facing east towards Toronto in 1940. This photograph shows the beginning of the new freeway entrance to Toronto, which was built between 1938 and 1940. The freeway extended from Hwy 27 (today's Hwy 427) easterly to Hwy 2 near the Humber River. The fields in the lower left corner are now the present-day site of the Sherway Gardens Shopping Centre. Evans Avenue can be seen to the right of the Queen Elizabeth Way, while Queen Street (today's Queensway) can be seen to the left of the Queen Elizabeth Way. Also, note the construction crew at centre left and upper left removing the old curved pavement of the former Queen Street-to-Middle Road transfer. Before the new western approach to Toronto was built through Etobicoke Township, the Queen Elizabeth Way simply merged with Queen Street near the present-day intersection of Queensway and The East Mall. Traffic then had to follow Queen Street all the way into Toronto. The new freeway at the western entrance to Toronto greatly expedited traffic flow into the city centre. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken in 1940.
(Photo © Archives of Ontario - Series RG-14-162-3 Photo #3262S)

Above - Facing west along the Queen Elizabeth Way towards Hamilton from the Hwy 27 (Brown's Line) Cloverleaf in Etobicoke Township in 1940. This wonderful photograph shows the newly-completed Hwy 27 Cloverleaf, situated at the present-day location of the multi-level interchange at Hwy 427 and the Queen Elizabeth Way near Sherway Gardens Shopping Centre. Before this cloverleaf was built in 1940, Hwy 27 intersected the Queen Elizabeth Way at an at-grade intersection with traffic signals. Back in the 1940s, the Queen Elizabeth Way passed through a predominantly rural area, with many miles of open country between Toronto, Port Credit, Oakville and Burlington. How times have changed!
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1940)

Above - Overpass construction at Burnhamthorpe Road and Hwy 27 in Toronto in 1953. The original two-lane Hwy 27 was expanded to a four-lane freeway in the first half of the 1950s as part of the Toronto Bypass construction. Crossing roads such as Burnhamthorpe Road depicted above originally connected to Hwy 27 via at-grade intersections. By 1955, all crossing traffic along Hwy 27 between the Queen Elizabeth Way Cloverleaf and Hwy 401 had been grade-separated. Local access points were controlled through the construction of new service roads along both sides of the new freeway and new interchanges at major junctions. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken on October 13, 1953.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1953)

Left - Overpass construction at St. Clair Avenue West (today's Rathburn Road) and Hwy 27 in Toronto. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken on October 13, 1953.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1953)

Right - ew Mimico Creek arch culvert on the Toronto Bypass (Hwy 401) at the Hwy 27 Interchange. Photo taken on June 27, 1954.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1954)

Left - Aerial photo showing the western end of the Toronto Bypass (Hwy 401) at the Hwy 27 Interchange in 1954. Hwy 401 ended here for several years in the mid-1950s, before it was extended westerly towards Hwy 25 in Milton. The Richview Sideroad (today's Eglinton Avenue) passes across the right corner of this photo. Photo taken on July 9, 1954.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1954)

Right - Aerial view of Hwy 27 facing south from the Hwy 401 Interchange. This great photograph shows the reconstruction of Hwy 27 as a freeway (today's Hwy 427) as it passes through a rural section of Etobicoke before urban sprawl completely devoured the area. The overpasses over Hwy 27 (from foreground to background) are the Toronto Bypass (Hwy 401, still under construction), Richview Sideroad (today's Eglinton Avenue), Rathburn Road, Burnhamthorpe Road, and Bloor Street. Today's Pearson Airport is located just off the photo to the right, and the massive Hwy 401 & Hwy 427 interchange is now located just to the right of the centre of this photo. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken on July 9, 1954.
(Photo © Archives of Ontario - Series RG-14-162-2, Photo #550)

Left - Aerial view of the Queen Elizabeth Way & Hwy 27 Cloverleaf in Toronto in 1954. Note the reconstruction along Hwy 27 North, which eventually converted the two-lane highway into a freeway. This freeway was redesignated as Hwy 427 in 1972. Photo taken on July 9, 1954.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1954)

Right - Interchange construction at the western end of the Toronto Bypass (Hwy 401) at Hwy 27, facing north from the Richview Sideroad Overpass in 1954. This interesting photo shows the extension of the Toronto Bypass to Hwy 27 in the background and the reconstruction of existing Hwy 27 as a four-lane controlled-access freeway in the foreground. The completion and opening of the Hwy 401 & Hwy 27 Interchange in 1955 allowed long-distance through traffic to travel between Hwy 400 and the Queen Elizabeth Way without passing through a single set of traffic signals. Photo taken on October 7, 1954.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1954)

Left - Completed western leg of the Toronto Bypass via Hwy 27 approaching St. Clair Avenue West (today's Rathburn Road) in Toronto in 1955. This rare early photo of the completed freeway section of Hwy 27 shows the configuration of the original four-lane freeway and the two grade-separated service roads which paralleled the highway. At first, traffic volumes on the western leg of the Toronto Bypass were quite low, but as Toronto grew, so did the traffic volumes. Fewer than 20,000 vehicles per day used Hwy 27 when this photo was taken in 1955, but by the end of the 1960s, traffic volumes on this section of Hwy 27 had climbed to nearly 75,000 vehicles per day - almost a four-fold increase! Construction got underway in 1968 to replace the original four-lane freeway with the complex freeway system that many readers are likely more familiar with today between the Queen Elizabeth Way and Hwy 401. This section of Hwy 27 was renumbered as Hwy 427 in 1972. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken on October 28, 1955.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1955)

Right - Queen Elizabeth Way at the Hwy 27 Cloverleaf, facing east towards Toronto. Note that traffic entering the Queen Elizabeth Way from southbound Hwy 27 at right was actually under Stop-control, as there was limited acceleration distance for motorists to merge into the freeway before the overpass. As a result, motorists heading into Downtown Toronto had to stop and wait for a gap in traffic on the Queen Elizabeth Way before proceeding. The southern side of the Hwy 27 Cloverleaf was reconstructed in 1957-1958 in order to make this a free-flow ramp. The northern half of the original 1940 Hwy 27 Cloverleaf was reconstructed in 1955 as part of the freeway conversion of Hwy 27 to the north of the Queen Elizabeth Way. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken on July 12, 1956.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1956)

Above - Construction progress on the Hwy 27 & Hwy 401 Interchange in Toronto in 1958, facing south along Hwy 27 from the westbound Hwy 401 structure. Note the start of the divided highway in the distance. The extension of Hwy 401 westerly from Toronto towards Milton resulted in numerous retrofits to the Hwy 27 Interchange, including the construction of a left-hand exit ramp from eastbound Hwy 401 to northbound Hwy 27. This ramp was closed permanently during reconstruction of this interchange in 1970. Photo taken in 1958.
(Photo courtesy of Ontario Ministry of Transportation - © King's Printer for Ontario, 1958)

Left - Aerial view of a traffic jam on Hwy 401 in Toronto, facing west towards the Hwy 27 Interchange. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken on June 17, 1959.
(Photo © Archives of Ontario - Series RG-14-151-5-26, Box B1106, Photo #ES12-712)

Right - Aerial view of a traffic jam on Hwy 401, facing northeast from the Hwy 27 Interchange in Toronto in 1959. The bizarre ramp configuration of the Hwy 27 and Hwy 401 Interchange is clearly visible in this photo. The ramp from eastbound Hwy 401 to northbound Hwy 27 was originally a left-hand exit. This ramp also had a direct merge onto northbound Hwy 27 with no acceleration lane, suggesting that this ramp connection was an afterthought conceived very late in the planning phase after the westbound Hwy 401 structure had been built. Beyond the westbound Hwy 401 structure, a direct taper loop ramp exited from northbound Hwy 27 to westbound Hwy 401. This unorthodox interchange existed up until the early 1970s, when the Hwy 27 Interchange was removed in order to accommodate the new freeway connection to Hwy 427. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken on June 17, 1959.
(Photo © Archives of Ontario - Series RG-14-151-5-26, Box B1106, Photo #ES12-711)

Above - Hwy 401 and Hwy 27 Interchange, facing north along Hwy 27 from the Richview Sideroad Overpass in 1959. This photo provides an interesting view of the Hwy 27 Freeway as it approaches the Hwy 401 Interchange in Toronto. Due to the complex exit ramp configuration at this interchange, a large overhead sign structure was placed above the highway to guide traffic. At the time this sign structure was installed in 1958, it was the largest of its kind in the province. See an Enlarged Photo Here. Photo taken on November 12, 1959.
(Photo © Archives of Ontario - Series RG-14-162-2-27, Box B983, Photo #1169C)