Ontario Highway 58 Photographs - Page 3 - History of Ontario's Kings Highways

Left - Facing east along Old Hwy 58 & Hwy 406 (Merritt Road) from the current Hwy 406 Junction. Until the mid-1990s, Hwy 406 curved in from the right and reached its southern terminus just ahead at Niagara Street. Although Hwy 406 came to an end, the route of Hwy 58 turned left onto Niagara Street and continued south through Welland towards Port Colborne. Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, the Department of Highways of Ontario (DHO) and its successor, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MTC), deliberated as to how to appropriately route Hwy 406 into Welland. Facing some urgency to construct a new 400-Series Highway between Welland and St. Catharines, engineers decided to temporarily terminate Hwy 406 at Niagara Street until a route through Welland was selected. The St. Lawrence Seaway Authority's relocation of the Welland Canal east of Welland in the early 1970s ultimately resulted in the construction of a more easterly route for Hwy 406 than had been originally envisioned in the 1960s. The short temporary Hwy 406 connection to Niagara Street seen here was ultimately bypassed in the 1990s by the final route of Hwy 406. Jurisdiction over Merritt Road (Old Hwy 58 & Hwy 406) was transferred from the province to the Regional Municipality of Niagara in 1997. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on June 19, 2011 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - View of Old Hwy 58 & Hwy 406 (Merritt Road), approaching the current Hwy 406 Junction. Until the mid-1990s, Hwy 58 & Hwy 406 curved sharply to the left here and headed north towards St. Catharines. The completion of the Welland River Bridge in 1995 united the previously discontinuous north and south sections of Hwy 406. As a result of the Hwy 406 extension across the Welland River Bridge, the temporary Hwy 58 & Hwy 406 connection to Niagara Street via Merritt Road seen here was bypassed. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - The pre-1995 route of Hwy 58 & Hwy 406 now lies buried under this earth stockpile north of Merritt Road. There is no trace today that a highway once existed here. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on June 19, 2011 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - View of Hwy 406 facing south from Port Robinson Road in 2005. Prior to 1995, Hwy 406's north leg came to an end a short distance ahead at Merritt Road and Hwy 58 (Niagara Street & Merrittville Highway). A discontinuous south leg of Hwy 406 existed from Woodlawn Road to East Main Street in Welland for several years, before the two highway sections were linked together by a new bridge over the Welland River. Although it isn't very clear in this photo, note the sign beside the highway at right, advising motorists that Hwy 406 ends at East Main Street. This sign was installed in the mid-1990s to remind motorists that they could continue straight ahead along Hwy 406 in order to reach Downtown Welland, rather than use Hwy 58 (Niagara Street). See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Facing east along Port Robinson Road at Hwy 406 near Welland in 2005. By the early 2000s, this was one of only a handful of examples of an at-grade intersection along Ontario's 400-Series Highways. In the early days of divided highway construction in Ontario, at-grade intersections such as this were often the rule, rather than the exception. Severe shortages of structural steel after World War II prevented the construction of many grade separations along the 400-Series Highways until well into the 1950s. In the specific instance of Port Robinson Road, however, traffic volumes were simply too low in the early 1970s to warrant the construction of a grade separation. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - View of Hwy 406 facing south from Port Robinson Road towards Welland. The northbound side of the highway has a channelized right turn lane heading easterly towards the small community of Port Robinson - one of several rural communities located within the incorporated limits of the City of Thorold. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Aerial view of Hwy 406 approaching Port Robinson Road and Merritt Road in 2011, facing south towards Welland. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on June 18, 2011 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Aerial view of Port Robinson Road and Hwy 406 in 2011, facing west. When Hwy 406 was converted to a freeway, the at-grade intersection at Port Robinson Road seen here was closed off and grade-separated. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on June 18, 2011 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Intersection of Port Robinson Road and Hwy 406 near Welland in 2005, facing west. This was one of five at-grade intersections along Hwy 406 in the Welland area that were either closed or grade-separated as a result of the recent twinning of Hwy 406. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Facing north along Hwy 406 towards St. Catharines from Port Robinson Road in 2005, before the highway was twinned. In the southbound direction, separate left and right turn lanes were provided for traffic turning off of Hwy 406. As a result of the recent freeway improvements, traffic is no longer able to access Port Robinson Road directly from Hwy 406. Traffic now has to utilize the new interchange at Merritt Road to the south. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Facing north along Hwy 406 from Port Robinson Road in 2005. Although it isn't an old highway by any means, this two-lane section of Hwy 406 built in the early 1970s already represents a bygone era of highway construction in Ontario. Facing exponentially-growing Post-War traffic volumes, the Department of Highways of Ontario (DHO) began to accelerate the construction of many 400-Series Highways by building a "staged freeway". This practice, which started in the latter half of the 1950s, involved the construction of two of the four traffic lanes immediately, with the other half of the freeway postponed for construction at a later date whenever traffic volumes warranted. This construction practice provided a very economical way of immediately constructing many desperately-needed highway corridors across Ontario, while still protecting for future traffic needs by allowing the highway to be "twinned" later. The practice of building staged freeways was generally set aside by the 1980s, as it was usually deemed to be more economical to build the complete freeway as needed, rather than come back and twin an existing highway only a few years after its initial construction. In some cases, however, these staged freeways built in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s lingered in their original two-lane configuration for somewhat longer than their designers had originally envisioned. Some of these staged freeway corridors (like Hwy 406) only came to full fruition in the 21st Century. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Facing south along Hwy 406 towards Welland approaching Port Robinson Road in 2011, before reconstruction. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on June 19, 2011 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - This large extruded aluminum ground-mounted freeway-style sign was introduced on southbound Hwy 406 approaching Port Robinson Road, in order to make the at-grade intersection even more conspicuous to approaching traffic. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on June 19, 2011 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Facing north along Hwy 406 approaching Port Robinson Road in 2011, showing the large channelized right turn lane from northbound Hwy 406 to eastbound Port Robinson Road. As a result of the Hwy 406 construction sequencing, this intersection was signalized temporarily in 2012. The traffic signals were subsequently removed. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on June 19, 2011 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Dual Hwy 406 & Hwy 58 route markers near Port Robinson Road north of Welland in 2005. These two highways shared a concurrent route between Welland and the Hwy 20 Junction for many years. However, this overlapped route became rather sporadically signed after the late 1990s and was discontinued altogether once the twinned Hwy 406 was completed to Welland. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Start of the four-lane divided highway near Port Robinson Road in 2011. Note that the Hwy 58 route marker seen in the adjacent 2005 photo was replaced with a green-and-white "TO 58" trailblazer marker. Up until the late 1990s, Hwy 58 was signed continuously through Welland and concurrently with Hwy 20 via Allanburg. As a result of the 1997-1998 municipal highway transfers or "downloading", a fairly significant gap opened up in the route of Hwy 58 between the southern entrance to Welland and Black Horse Corners east of Allanburg. The handful of remaining Hwy 58 route markers along the overlapped route with Hwy 406 north of Welland were gradually removed during the various Hwy 406 twinning projects. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on June 19, 2011 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Facing north along the two-lane section of Hwy 406 between Port Robinson Road and Hurricane Road in Thorold in 2005. Unlike other intersecting sideroads along Hwy 406 north of Welland, both Hurricane Road and nearby Turner Road were closed off to through traffic when Hwy 406 was constructed in the early 1970s. Compare this 2005 photo with the 2007 photos below, which show the twinned Hwy 406 under construction at this location. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Construction of the temporary end to the four-lane highway north of Port Robinson Road in 2007. Note the "6 km" distance marker at right. Historically, Hwy 406's distance markers started from zero at East Main Street in Welland and increased northerly to the Queen Elizabeth Way in St. Catharines. This followed the typical directional convention used in Ontario for identifying distance points on north-south oriented highways. However, when interchange exit numbers were introduced along Hwy 406 in 2011, this sequencing was reversed so that distance points started from zero at the Queen Elizabeth Way and increased southerly to Welland (from north to south). This was done deliberately to ensure that any future southerly extension of Hwy 406 beyond East Main Street would not trigger the need to renumber all of the existing interchange numbers again. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on July 25, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Future southbound lanes of Hwy 406 under construction between Port Robinson Road and Hurricane Road in Thorold in 2007. The original two-lane carriageway of Hwy 406 now forms the northbound lanes of the freeway, while all southbound traffic is now carried on the new carriageway. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on July 25, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Overhead warning signs approaching the temporary end to the four-lane highway north of Port Robinson Road in 2011. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on July 30, 2011 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Aerial view of Hwy 20 approaching Fonthill, facing west from the Hwy 406 Interchange. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on June 18, 2011 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Aerial view of the Hwy 20 Interchange on Hwy 406 near Fonthill. This interchange was completed in 2007, eliminating a particularly congested at-grade signalized intersection on Hwy 406. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on June 18, 2011 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Facing north along Hwy 406 towards St. Catharines from Hwy 20 & Hwy 58, before the highway was twinned. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Facing north along Hwy 406 towards the Hwy 20 & Hwy 58 Junction, before reconstruction. Shortly after this photo was taken, this two-lane section of Hwy 406 was twinned and a new interchange was constructed at Hwy 20. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Facing east along Hwy 20 towards the Hwy 406 Junction, before reconstruction. This at-grade signalized intersection was replaced with a grade-separated interchange in 2006-2007. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Facing south along Hwy 406 towards the Hwy 20 Interchange near Fonthill. Note the temporary exit sign, which also indicates Hwy 58. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on July 25, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Facing east along Hwy 20 towards the new overpass across Hwy 406. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on July 25, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Facing south along Hwy 406 towards Welland from the new Hwy 20 Overpass near Fonthill. A 4 km section of Hwy 406 was twinned in conjunction with the interchange construction project at Hwy 20. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on July 25, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - New interchange construction at Hwy 406 and Hwy 20. Note the old right-turn deceleration lane in the background, which was later removed. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on July 25, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Facing north along Hwy 406 towards St. Catharines from the new Hwy 20 Overpass near Fonthill. The new southbound lanes of Hwy 406 were still under construction when this photo was taken. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on July 25, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Ramp terminal construction at the Hwy 20 Interchange on Hwy 406. Due to project staging, a temporary ramp terminal was built a short distance to the west of this location. The temporary ramps can be seen in the background. The temporary ramps were removed once the permanent ramp terminal shown here was completed. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on July 25, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Green guide sign for Hwy 20 at the Hwy 406 Interchange near Fonthill. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on July 25, 2007 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Facing east along Hwy 20 & Hwy 58 towards Niagara Falls at the Allanburg Bridge. The Allanburg Lift Bridge across the Welland Canal can be seen in the background. See an Enlarged Photo here.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - The Allanburg Bridge is a single-span steel truss (Warren type) spanning a tributary of Lake Gibson.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Bridge manufacturer's plaque on the Allanburg Bridge on Hwy 20 & Hwy 58. Although the manufacturer's name is broken off, this bridge was likely built by the Hill Steel Construction Company of Hamilton, who built many steel truss bridges under contract for the Department of Highways in the 1930s.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Southern side of the Allanburg Bridge on Hwy 20 & Hwy 58.
(Photograph taken on October 18, 2005 - © Cameron Bevers)