King's Highway 47, commonly referred to as Highway 47 and locally as Stouffville Road, Toronto Street and Brock Street, was a
provincially maintained highway in the
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
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 ...
. The mostly rural route travelled through the towns of
Whitchurch-Stouffville,
Goodwood, and
Uxbridge
Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...
on its east–west path between
Highway 48 and
Highway 12
Route 12 or Highway 12 can refer to:
For a list of roads named A12, see A12 roads.
International
* Asian Highway 12
* European route E12
* European route E012
Argentina
* National Route 12
Australia NSW
* Western Sydney Airport Motorway ( ...
. The route was established in 1937, existing until it was transferred to the
Regional Municipality of Durham
The Regional Municipality of Durham (), informally referred to as Durham Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada. Located east of Toronto and the Regional Municipality of York, Durham forms the east-end of the Greater Toron ...
and the
Regional Municipality of York
The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional M ...
at the beginning of 1998.
Route description
![Highway 47](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Highway_47.png)
At the time of its decommissioning, Highway 47 began at Highway 48, and travelled east through a rural portion of
Whitchurch-Stouffville along what is now
York Regional Road 40 (Bloomington Road), passing through rolling farmland. Only a decade prior, the highway travelled through the town of
Stouffville
Stouffville () is the primary urban area within the town of Whitchurch-Stouffville in York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is situated within the Greater Toronto Area and the inner ring of the Golden Horseshoe. The urban area is centred at the inter ...
along Main Street, then turned north along the Tenth line, following it to Bloomington Road and
York - Durham Line, where it curved gently into the 1997 routing of the highway. The re-routing served to bypass this urban section.
Within the Regional Municipality of Durham, the route passed through Goodwood, where it curved northeast through forests. The highway then zig-zagged northeast to the town of Uxbridge. East of there, the highway continued through
marshes, past
Durham Regional Road 23 (Lakeridge Road), and into flat farmland. The route ended at Highway 12 south of
Greenbank.
History
The Stouffville to Greenbank Road was first assumed by the
Department of Highways as Highway 47 on October 20, 1937, connecting Stouffville and Uxbridge with Highway 12, south of Greenbank.
The highway generally remained unchanged for over half a century, with the exception of a short westward extension on February 10, 1954. On that day, the route was extended to meet Highway 48, which was itself extended south to
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...
.
Plans arose in 1990 for the province to take over a section of Bloomington Road being reconstructed by York Region, in order to bypass the urban section of Highway 47 through Stouffville.
By 1993, the highway had been shifted north of the town along Bloomington Road instead of Tenth Line and Main Street.
The gentle curve at the York–Durham boundary was removed and a signalized intersection created in its place.
Budget constraints brought on by a recession in the 1990s resulted in the
Mike Harris provincial government forming the ''Who Does What?'' committee to determine cost-cutting measures in order to balance the budget after a deficit incurred by former premier
Bob Rae
Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the ...
.
It was determined that many Ontario highways no longer served long-distance traffic movement and should therefore be maintained by local or regional levels of government. The MTO consequently
transferred many highways to lower levels of government in 1997 and 1998, removing a significant percentage of the provincial highway network.
As Highway 47 generally only served local traffic heading between Uxbridge and the
Greater Toronto Area
The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater T ...
, and not province-wide movement, the route was transferred to the Regional Municipality of York and the Regional Municipality of Durham on January 1, 1998.
It was subsequently redesignated as
Durham Regional Highway 47
The numbered roads in the Regional Municipality of Durham account for about of the county road system in the Canadian province of Ontario. The Durham Region Works Department owns and maintains the regional roads and regional highways, while the M ...
and an eastward extension of York Regional Road 40.
Major intersections
See also
*
List of numbered roads in Durham Region
The numbered roads in the Regional Municipality of Durham account for about of the County roads in Ontario, county road system in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. The Durham Region Works Department owns and ma ...
*
List of numbered roads in York Region
York Region, located in southcentral Ontario, Canada, assigned approximately 50 regional roads, each with a number ranging from 1 to 99. All expenses of York Regional Roads (for example, snow shovelling, road repairs, traffic lights) are funded ...
References
{{York Regional Roads
047