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Ontario Highway 401 facts for kids

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Highway 401 shield A Macdonald–Cartier Freeway reassurance marker

Highway 401
Macdonald–Cartier Freeway
Highway 401 runs along southern Ontario connecting Windsor, Toronto and the Quebec border.
Highway 401 within Ontario, Canada
Route information
Maintained by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario
Length: 817.9 km (508.2 mi)
History:
  • Proposed 1938
  • Opened December 1947 – October 11, 1968
Major junctions
West end:  Highway 3 to Windsor
 
East end: A-20 towards Montreal, QC
Location
Major cities: Windsor, London, Kitchener, Mississauga, Toronto, Oshawa, Kingston and Cornwall
Highway system

  • Ontario provincial highways
← CAN 400 CAN 402 →

Ontario Highway 401, also called King's Highway 401, is a provincial highway in southern Ontario, Canada. It is 817.9 kilometres (508.2 miles) long. It starts near Ontario's border with Quebec, where the road is called Quebec Autoroute 20. The western end of the highway is in Windsor.

Construction on the highway started in 1947. By 1952, three different parts of the highway were finished, with the three parts connected by 1964. In 2013, another part of the highway was started. This part would extend the highway to the New International Trade Crossing at the Canadian-U.S. border near Detroit.

In 2008, part of the highway between Trenton and Toronto was called the "Highway of Heroes". This was because many Canadian soldiers who were killed overseas arrived at the Trenton airforce base. Their bodies were then transported along the highway to Toronto.

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Images for kids

  • Highway 401's busiest point

    Highway 401 at Weston Road has a volume of over 500,000 vehicles per day during the summer months, making it one of the busiest stretches of highway in the world.

  • Highway 401 westbound Windsor

    The Highway 401 extension in Windsor, opened in 2015, is a six-lane below-grade roadway with tunnels and greenspace. It will connect to the planned Gordie Howe International Bridge.

  • Highway 401-Highway 402 interchange

    Highway 401 widens to six lanes at Highway 402 in London.

  • Highway 401 between 403 and 410

    Highway 401 between Highway 410 and Highway 403 in Mississauga

  • Highway 401 The Basketweave Aerial

    "The Basketweave", just east of the Highway 400 interchange, is a free-flowing crossover between the collector and express lanes.

  • King's Highway 401 - Ontario (4118738546)

    Different colours are used on the signs on Highway 401's collector-express system to avoid confusion. The express lanes use green signs and the collector lanes use blue.

  • A four-lane divided highway among short hills travels into the background and curves to the right. The two divided halves are separated by a depressed swampy median.

    Through much of eastern Ontario, Highway 401 is rural freeway with a grass median.

  • A highway passes beneath the camera and continues straight into the horizon. It is surrounded by forests on either side and contains no guardrail to separate opposite flows of traffic.

    The former Highway 2A near Highland Creek, aside from a resurfaced pavement, has not been altered since it opened in 1947.

  • King's Highway 401 - Ontario (6168714959)

    Macdonald–Cartier Freeway shields were once common along the entire highway, but were not replaced as they deteriorated with age.

  • A four-leaf clover shaped highway junction, located in the midst of developing suburbs.

    The Highway 400 interchange in 1953. Today, the former cloverleaf has been replaced with a multilevel interchange.

  • A black-and-white photo shows a four-lane freeway divided by a grass median. In the oncoming lanes, traffic is congested into the distance. With few exceptions, the 401 is surrounded by farmland.

    Within years after opening, the four-lane Toronto Bypass was congested, prompting the Department of Highways to widen this section to 12 lanes beginning in 1963.

  • A blue plaque on a stone wall. The plaque has a yellow border, and is mostly rectangular in shape, with the long end oriented horizontally. However, the top side has a camel hump in the centre, with a circle centred at the top of the hump. Inside the circle is an Ontario coat-of-arms. The plaque reads: THE MACDONALD CARTIER FREEWAY This plaque commemorates the completion of the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway (Highway 401), the longest freeway operated without tolls by a single highway authority in North America. Covering 510 miles between Windsor on the Canada–US border and the Ontario-Quebec boundary, it serves the richest economic region in Canada. In January 1965, it was named by The Honourable John Robarts, Premier of Ontario, in honour of the two founding architects of the Confederation of Canada, Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir George-Étienne Cartier. This site is located on the last section of construction, consisting of 15 miles between Ivy Lea and Highway 2, which was completed on October 11, 1968.

    A plaque near Brockville commemorates the official completion of the highway.

  • A bridge showcased against the sky, with the ground not visible. Lining the bridge are people, some holding Canadian flags.

    Canadians line overpasses along the Highway of Heroes to pay their respects to fallen soldiers.

  • Highway 401 from Wellington Road in London, Looking West Towards Highway 402

    Highway 401 was widened in 2008 between Highway 402 and Wellington Road in London. Additional widening west of Highway 402 is planned.

  • Highway 401 Densification

    The stretch of Highway 401 in Greater Toronto has seen dense development in recent years.

  • Highway 401 Greenbelt

    Highway 401 in the Greenbelt. The stretch of Highway 401 between Highway 8 and Highway 407 ETR is slated to be widened from six to ten lanes, including two HOV lanes.

  • 401 widening Mississauga Road

    Hwy. 401 widening work in Mississauga as seen from Mississauga Road in 2020

  • CambridgeONroute2

    ONroute Cambridge South service station

  • Highway 401 in Toronto

    Highway 401 in central Toronto; the North York skyline is visible in the distance

  • 401 Gridlock

    Traffic congestion on Highway 401 east of Toronto.

  • Highway 401

    Highway 401's widest segment has 18 through lanes, located near Toronto Pearson International Airport

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