King's Highway 4, also known as Highway 4, is a
provincially maintained highway in the
Canadian province
Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...
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 Ca ...
. Originally much longer than its present length, more than half of Highway 4 was transferred to the responsibility of local governments in 1998. It travels between
Highway 3
The following highways are numbered 3, H-3, PRI-3, AH3, E03 and R3. For roads numbered A3, see A3 roads. For roads numbered M3, see M3. For roads numbered N3, see N3. For roads numbered 3A, see 3A.
International
* Asian Highway 3
* Europea ...
in
Talbotville Royal, north-west of
St. Thomas, and
Highway 8 in
Clinton, passing through the city of
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
inbetween.
Highway 4 was first designated in 1920, when a route between Talbotville Royal and Elginfield was assumed by the
Department of Highways. It was extended in the early 1930s both south to
Port Stanley
Stanley (; also known as Port Stanley) is the capital city of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2016 census, the city had a populat ...
as well as north to
Flesherton
Flesherton (population 584) is a community in the Municipality of Grey Highlands, in Grey County, Ontario, Canada, located at the junction of Highway 10 and Grey County Road 4 (formerly Highway 4). Although the area initially showed a high rate ...
.
Route description
Highway4 starts at an intersection with Highway3 in Talbotville Royal and continues north as a two-lane undivided highway. For most of its length, the highway bisects agricultural land. It travels along a short
concurrency with
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 ...
from the community of
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...
to Wonderland Road. It encounters an interchange with
Highway 402 before entering
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
city limits. As Highway4 enters London, it becomes a
Connecting Link
The Connecting Link program is a provincial subsidy provided to municipalities to assist with road construction, maintenance and repairs in the Canadian province of Ontario. Roads which are designated as ''connecting links'' form the portions of ...
, known locally as Wonderland Road. Wonderland Road is a 4-lane arterial thoroughfare serving western London, with several big-box stores, a mall, and residential areas. The route turns east onto Sunningdale Road West, which it for a short distance before turning north along Richmond Street.
Highway4 continues north, passing through
Arva, when the surrounding terrain returns to farmland. Highway4 passes through
Birr before intersecting with the western terminus of
Highway 7 at
Elginfield, which is also 1 km east of the
Highway 23 junction with Highway7. The highway then curves slightly west, passing through
Lucan
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial ...
before continuing north at Clandeboye. From here to its terminus in Clinton, Highway4 is essentially straight for . Continuing to be flanked by farmland, it then passes through the communities of
Huron Park and
Exeter
Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
. At Exeter, it crosses the former route of
Highway 83. From there, it continues north, passing through the communities of
Hensall, Ontario
Hensall is a community in Bluewater, Ontario, Canada with a population of 1,173 (2011 Census). It is located in the centre of Huron County's agricultural land, and is home to three large processing facilities: Thompsons Limited, Hensall Co-op and ...
and
Vanastra, Ontario
Vanastra is a dispersed rural community and unincorporated place in the municipality of Huron East, Huron County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, southeast of the community of Clinton. It is located on the former property of a top secret Roya ...
before terminating at Highway8 in the community of Clinton.
History
Highway4 was originally designated in 1920 when the provincial government assumed the road running from Talbotville Royal (St. Thomas) to the Northern Highway (later Highway7) at Elginfield, via London. The portions within Elgin County were assumed on August4, while the portions south of London were assumed on June24. The portions north of and through London were assumed on August6.
The route featured a concurrency with the Provincial Highway (later Highway2) between Lambeth and downtown London.
Until the summer of 1925, Ontario highways were named rather than numbered. When route numbering was introduced, the route between St. Thomas and Elginfield became Provincial Highway4.
1927 saw several new sections of road assumed that would become portion of Highway4. On September14, the route was extended to
Highway 8 at Clinton. Further north, a new highway was created on June22, 1927, between
Highway 9 at
Walkerton and
Highway 6 at
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
. This latter section was designated as Highway4A.
On March12, 1930, Highway4 was extended to Durham, fully absorbing the route of Highway4A in the process. Two months later, on May11, it was extended south to Bedford Street (now Edith Cavell Boulevard) in Port Stanley.
On April11, 1934, the highway was extended east to the intersection of
Highway 10 in Flesherton.
Highway4 reached its maximum length of when it was extended from Flesherton to
Highway 24 in Singhampton in the mid-1970s.
Downloads
As part of a series of budget cuts initiated by premier
Mike Harris
Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...
under his
Common Sense Revolution
The phrase Common Sense Revolution (CSR) has been used as a political slogan to describe conservative platforms with a main goal of reducing taxes while balancing the budget by reducing the size and role of government. It has been used in places ...
platform in 1995, numerous highways deemed to no longer be of significance to the provincial network were decommissioned and responsibility for the routes transferred to a lower level of government, a process referred to as downloading. Portions of Highway4 were transferred to the counties of
Elgin,
Huron
Huron may refer to:
People
* Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America
* Wyandot language, spoken by them
* Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec
* Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...
,
Bruce
The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been a ...
and
Grey
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...
on January1, 1998.
The former portion of Highway 4 south of St. Thomas is now signed as
Elgin County Road 4. The former northern portion is broken into several different roads:
*
Huron County Road 4 from
Clinton to near
Wingham
*
Bruce County Road 4 (London Road) from near Wingham to Riversdale
* A former
concurrency with Highway9 between Riversdale and Walkerton
*
Grey County Road 4 from Walkerton to
Simcoe County Road 124 just south of Singhampton
In 2017, the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
announced that Highway 4 through London would be re-signed and re-routed via Richmond Street, Sunningdale Road, and Wonderland Road, resulting in a short
concurrency with Highway 401 between the Colonel Talbot Road and Wonderland Road interchanges.
Major intersections
References
{{Roads in London, Ontario
004
Roads in London, Ontario
Transport in St. Thomas, Ontario