King Street, or Waterloo Regional Road 15, is the major northwest–southeast arterial road in Kitchener, Ontario, as well as Waterloo, Ontario, where it runs north–south. In Waterloo, King Street divides the city into east and west sides, and in Kitchener, it divides the city into north and south sides. At the Conestoga Parkway, in southern Kitchener, King Street becomes the Highway 8 Expressway. King Street "resumes" about four kilometres to the east, where

Weber Street Weber Street (, ) is a major roadway connecting the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It forms a component of Waterloo Regional Road 8, whose route designation continues along several other roads in south Kitchener and Cambri ...

is renamed to King Street and then continues to Cambridge, Ontario.

Route description

Downtown Kitchener

In Kitchener, the main segment of King Street starts at the Highway 8

Freeport Diversion King's Highway 8, commonly referred to as Highway 8, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The route travels from Highway 21 in Goderich, on the shores of Lake Huron, to Highway 5 in the outski ...

, also known as Highway 8 Expressway, bend in an interchange with the

Conestoga Parkway The Conestoga Parkway, officially the Kitchener–Waterloo Expressway, is a controlled-access highway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress ...

. After the Freeport Diversion passes under the Conestoga overpasses, the Highway 8 designation continues on the Conestoga west of the junction on the loop ramp, but going straight ahead defaults to King Street, which continues northwesterly through Downtown Kitchener and eventually to the boundary with Waterloo. East of the interchange, Conestoga Parkway serves as a

bypass Bypass may refer to: * Bypass (road), a road that avoids a built-up area (not to be confused with passing lane) * Flood bypass of a river Science and technology Medicine * Bypass surgery, a class of surgeries including for example: ** Heart bypas ...

of King Street. Although it runs southeast–northwest, King Street is labelled east–west since Kitchener originally developed relative to the Grand River based on the alignment of the Haldimand Tract, which runs north–south. The same is true for the other major north–south routes in the city (such as

), and the reverse is true for the major east–west arteries in the city (although they run east–west, they are labelled north–south). The intersection of King Street and Queen Street (which was the nucleus of the early community that would become Kitchener) in Downtown Kitchener is the point from which the city's street directions are determined. King Street divides Kitchener's streets into north and south, and Queen Street divides streets into east and west. King Street is the major street of Downtown Kitchener, with such buildings as the

Kitchener City Hall Kitchener City Hall is the seat of municipal government of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It has gone through many iterations through the 20th century, culminating in the current building, which opened in 1993. History The original location of ...

and

Market Square The market square (or sometimes, the market place) is a Town square, square meant for trading, in which a market is held. It is an important feature of many towns and cities around the world.nightclubs. Northwest of downtown, King Street is home to

Grand River Hospital Grand River Hospital is a 665-bed hospital serving Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, and surrounding communities, primarily through its KW and Freeport Sites, both located in Kitchener. The two sites were independent hospitals that merged to form ...

. It also contains television studios (for CKCO-TV) and radio stations ( CHYM-FM,

CIKZ-FM CIKZ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. The station airs a country format branded as ''Country 106.7'' and is owned by Rogers Sports & Media, which also owns sister stations CHYM-FM and CKGL. CIKZ's s ...

and CKGL, which moved to "The Boardwalk" near Ira Needles Boulevard and University Avenue). CKBT-FM and CJDV-FM studios were relocated to the southern end of Kitchener/Cambridge in the Sportsworld plaza in 2010. In 2004, when the Highway 8/Conestoga Parkway interchange was realigned to increased traffic capacity, the number of lanes headed towards King Street was reduced from two to one because of the need to accommodate the new flyover ramp from the Conestoga to Highway 8.

Kitchener to Cambridge

Another King Street, in southern Kitchener, runs north–south. It originally began at Wilfred Avenue (a residential street) and ran southward into Cambridge, wedged in between the

and Weber Street. That road was initially part of King Street downtown until the portion between Wilfred Avenue and Weber Street became the right-of-way for the Highway 8 Freeport Diversion freeway, with its terminus being redirected towards Weber Street. When the Diversion was completed in the late 1960s, travel between the two segments of King Street required one to use either the freeway's Fairway Road interchange or Weber Street and Montgomery Road. South of Weber, the street "resumed" again and continued to Cambridge to intersect with the Freeport Diversion a second time at an at-grade Y-intersection, with the Freeport Diversion traffic being given priority. King Street continued on eastward as a divided at-grade expressway carrying the Highway 8 designation, south to

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 ...

and Cambridge. The road is often referred to as Old King Street or King East to distinguish it from the downtown thoroughfare. King East provided a link between Highway 401 and the Freeport Diversion. In 1987, the at-grade intersection was replaced with a two-ramp interchange, when the freeway extension (secretly designated Highway 7187) of the Freeport Diversion was constructed to provide a direct freeway link to Highway 401 eastbound to Toronto. Highway 401 eastbound traffic, however, continued to use King Street East to reach the Freeport Diversion. In 2001, the Highway 401 exit signage at King Street East was changed from Highway 8 to ''Shantz Hill Road'' since that section of Highway 8 had been downloaded from the province to municipal authorities in 1998. The Highway 8 designation was later given to the Freeport Diversion extension to reconnect it with Highway 401.

Waterloo

Upon crossing into Waterloo, King Street turns northeastward and continues until it exits the city into Woolwich Township. As in Kitchener, King Street crosses Weber Street in Waterloo (it intersects a third time at the north end of Weber Street) and also has an interchange with the Conestoga Parkway, which is now designated as

Highway 85 The following highways are numbered 85. International * AH85, Asian Highway 85 * European route E85 Australia * Goldfields Way, New South Wales * Flinders Island, Tasmania * Queensland State Route from Bribie Island to Nindigully, with sections ...

. A major difference between King Street in Kitchener and in Waterloo, however, is that the street, upon entering Waterloo, is labelled north–south (the dividing line being

Erb Street Erb, ERB or ErB may refer to: People * Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950), American author * Erb of Gwent (–), king of Gwent and Glywysing Surname * Abraham Erb (1772–1830), American-born Canadian settler * Albrecht Erb (1628–1714), Aust ...

) instead of east–west as in Kitchener, like for all other major north–south thoroughfares in Waterloo. King Street is the main thoroughfare in Downtown Kitchener but also Uptown Waterloo (the central district of Waterloo). Shops and pubs line the street roughly from the border with Kitchener until

Bridgeport Road Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...

. Also, two major shopping malls are situated on King Street:

Waterloo Town Square Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat * Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place. Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Antarctica *King George Island (S ...

in Uptown Waterloo and Conestoga Mall at the junction with Highway 85 (both are currently in the midst of major redevelopment projects).

Woolwich and Wellesley

North of Waterloo, King Street intersects Weber Street once again, at Weber Street's northern terminus at

St. Jacobs Farmers' Market St. Jacobs Farmers' Market is a farmers' market and flea market in Woolwich, Ontario, Canada. It is located to the south of King Street North, to the east of Weber Street North, and to the west of the railway tracks. It is the largest year-round ...

. Waterloo Regional Road 15 also continues west at the T-intersection of King Street N and Lobsinger Line that is locally known as Wagner's Corners. "Lobsinger Line" is named after a local community figure in the village of

St. Clements, Ontario ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

. Lobsinger Line is the main road for the communities of Heidelberg, Ontario, and

, as well as the Old Order Mennonites. Along Lobsinger Line, it is common to see signs for produce, eggs, firewood, and "No Sunday Sales" from each of the laneways. Lobsinger Line ends at the T-intersection of Lobsinger and Waterloo Regional Road 5, in the hamlet of Crosshill, Ontario.

History

Streetcar in Kitchener at King and Queen, 1940

The route of King Street through Kitchener, along with the "old" King Street near Centreville (some of which is now the route of the Freeport Diversion), was used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for interurban and

street railway A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

systems in

street running A street running train is a train which runs on a track built on public streets. The rails are embedded in the roadway, and the train shares the street with other users, such as pedestrians, cars and cyclists, thus often being referred to as r ...

operations. One of these was the Preston and Berlin Street Railway (P&B), which originally ran from

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

(now a part of Cambridge) along the earlier routing of King Street until it reached Albert Street (later renamed Madison Avenue) in what was then the south end of Kitchener. From there, the P&B tracks connected to the tracks of the

Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway The Kitchener and Waterloo Street Railway was a street railway in Berlin, Ontario, Berlin (renamed Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener) and Waterloo, Ontario, Waterloo in Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada. Horsecar service began in 1888 under the origi ...

, which passed through the core of downtown Kitchener on their way to Waterloo. The Preston and Berlin Street Railway was later amalgamated into the

Grand River Railway The Grand River Railway was an interurban electric railway (known as a radial in Ontario) in what is now the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, in Southwestern Ontario. History Background Preston and Berlin Railway Starting in the 185 ...

. Its street operation franchise for Kitchener expired in October 1919, leading to a municipal takeover of about of track by the

Kitchener Public Utilities Commission The Kitchener Public Utilities Commission (KPUC, or PUC) was the municipal public utilities commission for the city of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, as well as the surrounding area. Its former office in downtown Kitchener, constructed in 1931 in ...

from Albert Street to what was then the southern city limit. The Grand River Railway then bypassed King Street beyond Stirling Avenue following a new dedicated right of way, though the tracks south of Stirling continued to run alongside the roadway. The section of track running parallel to King Street between Centreville and Ottawa Street in Kitchener was abandoned in the early 1960s after a 1960 agreement between the railway and the city of Kitchener. This allowed for the later conversion of parts of King Street to a boulevard, as well as the construction of the Freeport Diversion.

References

{{Waterloo Regional Roads 15 15