King's Highway 400A, once known as the Highway 400 Extension, was a
400-series highway
The 400-series highways are a network of controlled-access highways throughout the southern portion of the Canadian province of Ontario, forming a special subset of the provincial highway system. They are analogous to the Interstate 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 Ca ...
that was
unsigned
Unsigned can refer to:
* An unsigned artist is a musical artist or group not attached or signed to a record label
** Unsigned Music Awards, ceremony noting achievements of unsigned artists
** Unsigned band web, online community
* Similarly, the c ...
and is now the southern end of
Highway 11. The short
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 ...
link connected
Highway 400 with Highway 11 and Simcoe County Road 93, formerly
Highway 93. The highway was created in late 1959 by the opening of Highway 400 to
Coldwater, although it has always featured Highway 400 signage in the southbound direction and Highway 11 signage northbound.
Route description
The redesignated highway features a narrow
grass median for the majority of its length, and has a speed limit of . On average, the highway is used by approximately 11,900 vehicles daily.
The route began as Highway 400 exits on the right, with the northbound lanes rising up to cross Highway 400A on an overpass. After the overpass, the highway ascends, with grasslands to the east and an embankment to the west, then gently curves to the northeast. As it crosses Simcoe County Road 93 (Penetanguishene Road), formerly
Highway 93, the former highway ended as it continued as Highway 11.
History
Highway 400A formed the original routing of Highway 400 from 1950 to 1959. In 1950, the then-incomplete freeway was extended north through the city of
Barrie
Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically i ...
to the junction of Highway 11 and Highway 93 in Crown Hill; the entirety of Highway 400 would open on
Dominion Day
Dominion Day was a day commemorating the granting of certain countries Dominion status — that is, "autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external ...
in 1952. In the late-1950s, the construction 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 o ...
prompted the
Department of Highways to extend the route north to
Highway 12 and
Highway 103 (both designated as branch routes of the TCH) in
Coldwater, deemed the Highway 400 Extension. This section opened as a
super two
A super two, super two-lane highway or wide two-lane is a two-lane surface road built to highway standards with wide lanes and other safety features normally present on a freeway with more lanes, typically including partial control of access, o ...
on December 24, 1959, redirecting Highway 400 southwest of the
Crown Hill junction. To remedy this situation, the gap between the original terminus and the new turnoff was internally designated as Highway 400A.
The highway has never been signed as Highway 400A. Instead, northbound it is indicated as Highway 11 and southbound as Highway 400.
Restructuring of the provincial highway system resulted in Highway 11 south of the Crown Hill interchange being transferred, or downloaded, to local municipalities on April 1, 1997.
That highway's southern terminus was then shifted to meet Highway 400 by redesignating Highway 400A as Highway 11.
Unusually, traffic to and from the Highway 400 extension enters and exits at the right of the roadway, while traffic to and from Highway 400A/11 simply continues on the same roadway. The
interchange is also incomplete; drivers must either use the Forbes Road and Penetanguishene Road interchanges, or continue southbound into Barrie and switch direction at Duckworth Street in order to travel from southbound Highway 400A to northbound Highway 400 or from southbound Highway 400 to northbound Highway 400A.
Exit list
References
;Sources
;Bibliography
*
{{Ontario King's Highways
00A