King's Highway 115, commonly referred to as Highway 115, is a
provincially maintained highway in the
Canadian province of
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
that connects
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
with
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
via
Highway 401
King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one,
is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian provin ...
. The highway begins at a junction with Highway 401 southwest of
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
and ends at an
at-grade At-grade may refer to:
* At-grade intersection, a crossing between roads on the same level
* Road junction
*Level crossing, where a road or path crosses a railway on the same level
* Diamond crossing, where two railway tracks cross
* At-grade railwa ...
intersection with
Highway 7 east of
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
.
Highway 115 is part of the
Algonquin Trail and
concurrent
Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to:
Law
* Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea''
* Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...
with
Highway 35 from its southern terminus in
Clarington
Clarington ( 2021 population 101,427) is a lower-tier municipality in the Regional Municipality of Durham in Ontario, Canada. It was incorporated in 1973 as the town of Newcastle with the merging of the town of Bowmanville, the Village of Newca ...
to
Enterprise Hill, where it veers towards Peterborough and Highway 35 continues north into the
Kawarthas. It is also part of the
Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway (French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean on ...
from the interchange with Highway 7 south of
Springville, Ontario to the northern terminus of the highway. Highway 115 is a
freeway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
northeast of Enterprise Hill and a
Right-in/right-out
Right-in/right-out (RIRO) and left-in/left-out (LILO) refer to a type of three-way road intersection where turning movements of vehicles are restricted. A RIRO permits only right turns and a LILO permits only left turns. "Right-in" and "left-in" r ...
(RIRO)
expressway south of it, featuring short ramps with abrupt right turns to and from the highway. By January 2010, exit numbers were added to the freeway section north of the Highway 35 concurrency.
Route description
![115 towards Enterprise Hill](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/115_towards_Enterprise_Hill.png)
Highway 115 begins at a
trumpet interchange
In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, usi ...
with Highway 401, and is
concurrent
Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to:
Law
* Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea''
* Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...
with Highway 35 for to Enterprise Hill.
For the length of this concurrency, it is a divided four lane RIRO expressway. Here, Highway 35/115 meets the eastern terminus of Highway 407 at a modified trumpet interchange in
Clarington
Clarington ( 2021 population 101,427) is a lower-tier municipality in the Regional Municipality of Durham in Ontario, Canada. It was incorporated in 1973 as the town of Newcastle with the merging of the town of Bowmanville, the Village of Newca ...
, and at Enterprise Hill, the expressway curves eastward and Highway 35 exits, continuing north towards
Lindsay. Highway 115 continues northeast, and the two carriageways diverge, making it a
freeway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
. A depressed grass median, generally wide, separates the opposing directions of travel between this point and Peterborough.
Most of the remainder of the highway is straight and surrounded by agricultural lands and forests, until it meets Highway 7. From this point northeastward, Highway 115 is part of the southern Ontario route of the
Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway (French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean on ...
and concurrent with Highway 7.
The freeway continues along the southern edge of
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
and ends at Lansdowne Street to the east of the city. Highway 7 continues east towards
Ottawa.
History
Highway 115 was a new highway constructed in the mid-1950s and gradually improved over the following 40 years. Initially, the route was constructed as a two lane connection from Highway 35 near
Pontypool to Highway 28 on the outskirts of Peterborough. Because of this, it was known as the Pontypool–Peterborough Road. It was eventually extended to Highway 7 on the east side of Peterborough and later widened to a four-lane expressway in the late 1980s. Since then, improvements have been proposed to extend Highway 115 east to Highway 28, but none have come to fruition.
In 1953, construction began on a two lane road northeastward from Highway 35 south of Pontypool, with the purpose of creating a shorter route between Toronto and Peterborough.
[Miller pp. 97–98] The Pontypool–Peterborough Road, as it was referred to during construction, was completed and designated as Highway 115 on March 17, 1955,
ending at an intersection with
Highway 28 which became notoriously dangerous.
In 1961, Highway 115 was extended southward to the 401, becoming concurrent with Highway 35. That same year, the new ''Peterborough By-pass'' opened, providing a route for Highway 7 around the south side of the city via Monaghan Parkway.
Highway 115 was later extended east to connect with the bypass, and the northern terminus became the intersection of Erskine Avenue and Lansdowne Street (the former Highway 7A). The extension was opened at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on August 25, 1978.
The entire length of the highway south of Highway 7 was widened to four lanes in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Later, Highway 115 was rerouted to join Highway 7 on the newly four-laned Peterborough By-pass route. Although Highway 115 currently meets many
Ontario freeway design standards northeast of the Highway 35 interchange, there are currently no plans to re-designate this section as a 400-series highway (like Highway 415 or a non-tolled section of Highway 407).
Exit list
References
;Sources
;Bibliography
*
External links
{{Ontario King's Highways
115 115 may refer to:
* 115 (number), the number
* AD 115, a year in the 2nd century AD
* 115 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC
* 115 (Hampshire Fortress) Corps Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, a unit in the UK Territorial Army
* 115 (Leicestershire) ...
Kawartha Lakes
Transport in Clarington