King's Highway 40, commonly referred to as Highway 40, is a provincially maintained highway in the southwestern portion of 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 ...

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 route links

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

and

Sarnia Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a 2021 population of 72,047, and is the largest city on Lake Huron. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes where Lake Huron fl ...

via

Wallaceburg Wallaceburg ( 2016 population 10,098) is an unincorporated community in the municipality of Chatham-Kent in Southern (Southwestern) Ontario, Canada. Originally a small settlement, it was recognized for its significant contribution to the lumber ...

, following close to the

St. Clair River The St. Clair River (french: Rivière Sainte-Claire) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 7, 2011 river in central North America which flows from Lake Huron int ...

. The southern terminus is at

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 ...

south of Chatham, while the northern terminus is at Highway 402 in Sarnia. The portion of Highway 40 between Highway 401 and north of Wallaceburg is within the municipality of

Chatham-Kent Chatham-Kent ( 2021 population: 104,316)Lambton County Lambton County is a county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is bordered on the north by Lake Huron, which is drained by the St. Clair River, the county's western border and part of the Canada-United States border. To the south is Lake Saint Cl ...

. Highway 40 was built as a depression-relief project in 1934. The original routing followed what is now the

St. Clair Parkway The St. Clair Parkway, historically referred to as the River Road, is a scenic parkway in the Canadian province of Ontario. It travels alongside the St. Clair River from west of Wallaceburg to Sarnia, a distance of . It formed a portion of the r ...

, but was rerouted to create that scenic road in the mid-1970s. The Sarnia Bypass was opened in 1963 as Highway 40A and renumbered as Highway 40 by 1966; the original route through Sarnia became Highway 40B until it was decommissioned during the early-1990s. The route was extended to Highway 3 in Blenheim during the early 1970s; however this section was decommissioned during the

Ontario highway transfers The Provincial Highway Network consists of all the roads in Ontario maintained by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO), including those designated as part of the King's Highway, secondary highways, and tertiary roads. Components of th ...

in 1998.

Route description

Highway 40 begins at an interchange with Highway 401 (Exit 90) southeast of the urban centre of

, within the municipality of

Chatham-Kent Chatham-Kent ( 2021 population: 104,316) Southwest of the interchange is C.M. Wilson Conservation Area, a campground named for the former Chair of Directors of the

Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also *Nizhny Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни́� ...

, Clarence Michael Wilson. The highway proceeds northwest as Communication Road, passing between farmland on the outskirts of Chatham. It crosses a

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

(CN) mainline followed by the

Thames River The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

, then turns southwest onto Grand Avenue East and crosses a

Canadian Pacific The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

(CP) railway line. The highway progresses from the outskirts of Chatham to downtown before turning onto St. Clair Street and travelling northwest. It encounters the Nortown Centre mall as it passes through the suburbs and eventually leaves the city. The

African-Canadian Heritage Tour This is a List of Ontario Tourist Routes throughout the province, which are designated to highlight places of cultural, environmental, or social importance. It is currently unknown if the majority of these trails are still listed since many of the ...

(ACHT) follows a portion of Highway 40 from Highway 401 to Chatham-Kent Road 29 (Countryview Line) at Oungah, where it turns east towards

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

. The ACHT was begun in 1991, and by 1997 was the most successful heritage tour in North America. However, under a new tourism signage policy, markers signing the ACHT were removed from Highway 40 in 1998. Oungah is the only community between Chatham and Wallaceburg, where the highway divides a large swath of farmland established in the fertile soils of the region. Immediately southeast of Wallaceburg, the highway turns to the north and becomes known as Murray Street. As it enters the town, it turns onto McNaughton Avenue and crosses a

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

railway line then the Sydenham River. The route turns west onto Dufferin Avenue and proceeds out of the town, crossing the CSX railway a second time. After crossing an

irrigation canal An acequia () or séquia () is a community-operated watercourse used in Spain and former Spanish colonization of America, Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation. Particularly in Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and the modern-day A ...

, Highway 40 turns north onto Arnold Road and crosses the CSX railway a third and final time before exiting Chatham-Kent. Ontario Highway 40

The route enters

Lambton County Lambton County is a county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is bordered on the north by Lake Huron, which is drained by the St. Clair River, the county's western border and part of the Canada-United States border. To the south is Lake Saint Cl ...

in the municipality of St. Clair, passing through more farmland. north of the county line, the highway crosses the W. Darcy McKeough Floodway, a channel constructed in 1984 to protect Wallaceburg from flooding. Highway 40 continues north, parallel to and several kilometres east of the

. At

Bickford Bickford is a village in Staffordshire, England. For population details taken at the 2011 census see Penkridge Penkridge ( ) is a village and civil parish in South Staffordshire District in Staffordshire, England. It is to the south of ...

, it swerves slightly to the east while passing between the CF Industries nitrogen fertilizer plant to the west and Bickford Oak Woods Provincial Conservation Reserve to the east. As the highway approaches the south end of Sarnia, it widens into a divided four-lane expressway and passes through Chemical Valley, the location of several industrial plants. The route enters

Aamjiwnaang First Nation The Aamjiwnaang First Nation (formerly known as Chippewas of Sarnia First Nation) is an Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) First Nations Band located on reserve land by the St. Clair River, three miles south of the southern tip of Lake Huron. The reserve is ...

at La Salle Line where the surroundings abruptly switch to forest from a mix of industry and farmland. At the intersection with Churchill Line, Highway 40 enters the

city limits and turns east onto the Sarnia Bypass, a four lane divided expressway. Approximately east of the intersection, the highway narrows back to a two lane road. Soon thereafter, it gently curves to the north, intersecting Plank Road and becoming Modeland Road. It passes along the western edge of the Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant, the largest photovoltaic (solar) power plant in the world in 2010. The route passes above a CN and

VIA Via or VIA may refer to the following: Science and technology * MOS Technology 6522, Versatile Interface Adapter * ''Via'' (moth), a genus of moths in the family Noctuidae * Via (electronics), a through-connection * VIA Technologies, a Taiwan ...

rail line as it travels along the eastern

rural–urban fringe The rural–urban fringe, also known as the outskirts, rurban, peri-urban or the urban hinterland, can be described as the "landscape interface between town and country", or also as the transition zone where urban and rural uses mix and often ...

of the city. After a signalized intersection with Wellington Street, Highway 40 widens to a divided four lane expressway once more just prior to a Parclo A2 interchange with London Line (former Highway 7), then ends at a Parclo B4 interchange with Highway 402 (Exit 6). Modeland Road narrows back to a two lane road and continues north as Lambton County Road 27.

History

Highway 40 was established at the height of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, during the spring of 1934. The subsequent improvement of the roadway employed several dozen men eight hours per day, six days per week at

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...

as a depression-relief project. It was created by the assumption of the St. Clair River Road, as well as several lengths of concession road created as a result of statute labour by adjacent settlers as part of the requirements to secure a land deed. On March 28, the road connecting Chatham with Wallaceburg was assumed by the Department of Highways (DHO) and designated King's Highway 40. Just over a month later, on May 2, the DHO assumed the route between Wallaceburg and Sarnia known today as the

. The route connected Highway 2 in Chatham with Highway 7 and Highway 22 in Sarnia. The designation came just weeks before the 1934 Ontario general election, which saw Lambton West incumbent Conservative

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

Andrew Robinson McMillen replaced by Liberal William Guthrie. As such, it was seen as a fruitless last-ditch attempt to garner votes.

Sarnia Bypass

In the decade following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, automobile use in North America increased dramatically, inundating many highways on the approach to and within urbanized areas with heavy traffic. As a result,

freeways 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 i ...

and

bypasses 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 bypa ...

were constructed throughout the province, allowing drivers not destined for those locations avoid congestion. In 1957, the DHO announced that Highway 402 would be extended east of Sarnia to

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 ...

, starting with the construction of an interchange at Modeland Road. This interchange would serve as the terminus for a new bypass of Sarnia. On May 1, 1963, portions of Modeland Road and Churchill Line were taken over by the DHO and numbered as Highway 40A. These roads were reconstructed over the following year to provincial standards. On October 25, 1963, the Sarnia Bypass was opened to traffic. Further construction was carried out until late 1965 to grade the route for future widening and build an overpass of the CN Railway south of Confederation Line, after which the bypass was renumbered as the northern end of Highway 40; the former route on the west side of Sarnia, via Brock Street, Vidal Street and Front Street, was subsequently renumbered Highway 40B. East of the Murphy Road overpass, Highway 402 was re-aligned to bypass the interchange with Highway 40 constructed in 1963; Exmouth Street was redirected to connect with Highway 7 (London Line), and Quinn Street now follows the former alignment of the freeway. For the realigned Highway 402, a new interchange was constructed with Highway 40 just north of the original interchange. River Road near Courtright

St. Clair Parkway

During the late-1950s, the St. Lawrence Seaway project created a navigable

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

system between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Superior, while simultaneously reclaiming properties along the shoreline to create a continuous parkway. Seeing the potential tourist draw, several groups and organizations, including the district Chamber of Commerce, convened at the second annual conference of the Southwestern Ontario Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade in February 1960. Several resolutions were passed, calling for the DHO to create a new Highway 40 several kilometres inland from the St. Clair River and to have the old highway rebuilt as a scenic route. These resolutions were echoed by Lambton County Council and the 21 municipalities in the county. Plans for the parkway were crafted over the next several years before being presented to minister of highways

Charles MacNaughton Charles Steel MacNaughton (May 15, 1911 – November 20, 1987) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1958 to 1973 who represented the central Ontario riding of ...

in the spring of 1965. Subsequently, the St. Clair Parkway Commission was formed in 1966. Around this time, several large chemical refineries, including

Union Carbide Union Carbide Corporation is an American chemical corporation wholly owned subsidiary (since February 6, 2001) by Dow Chemical Company. Union Carbide produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers befo ...

and S.O.A.P. were built south of Sarnia along the future highway corridor, an area known since the 1940s as Chemical Valley. Following several years of negotiations with the Aamjiwnaang First Nation (then the Chippewas of Sarnia), construction of the new inland route of Highway 40 began in July 1972. Working south from Sarnia, the first contract reached as far south as Highway 80 (Courtright Line), a distance of . A second contract, awarded in 1974, extended construction south an additional to Lambton County Road 2 (Bentpath Line) near Sombra. The third and final contract was awarded in late 1975 to complete the remaining south of County Road 2. The new Sarnia–Wallaceburg highway was opened to traffic as each contract was completed. The section from Sarnia to Highway 80 was opened in August 1975, and the section from Highway 80 to Sombra by mid-1977. The entire C$12.6 million ($ in dollars) project was opened ceremoniously by Highway Minister

James Snow James Wilfred Snow (July 12, 1929 – September 13, 2008) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1967 to 1985 who represented the GTA ridings of Halton ...

on November 25, 1977; he was late to the ceremony due to a snowstorm. The old alignment was transferred to the St. Clair Parkway Commission between Sarnia and Sombra in 1979, and from Sombra to Dufferin Avenue (opposite

Walpole Island Walpole Island is an island and First Nation reserve in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the border between Ontario and Michigan in the United States. It is located in the mouth of the St. Clair River on Lake St. Clair, about by road from Wind ...

) by 1982. The remaining along Dufferin Avenue to the new Highway 40 was decommissioned between 1984 and 1986. Lambton County designated its portion of the former highway as County Road 33.

Kent County

Within Wallaceburg, Highway 40 originally followed Murray Street, King Street, McDougal Street across the Sydenham River and James Street. When the Lord Selkirk Bridge was opened November 23, 1950, the highway was rerouted along McNaughton Avenue and across the new bridge. In 1975, the alignment was briefly changed to Murray Street and the

one-way pair A one-way pair, one-way couple, or couplet refers to that portion of a bi-directional traffic facilitysuch as a road, bus, streetcar, or light rail linewhere its opposing flows exist as two independent and roughly parallel facilities. Descriptio ...

ing of Wellington and James Streets while the Lord Selkirk Bridge was rehabilitated and McNaughton Avenue widened to four lanes. Within Chatham, Highway 40 originally followed St. Clair Street and Thames Street to intersect Highway 2 at Fifth Street adjacent to the Thames River. By 1940, it had been rerouted across the Third Street bridge and along Raleigh Street to end at Richmond Street. Despite the opening of Highway 401 south of Chatham on October 25, 1963, Highway 40 was not extended south of Chatham until the end of the decade. In spring of 1969, the DHO assumed Communication Road south of Highway 401 to Highway 3 in Blenheim, in exchange for Highway 98, which became Kent County Road 8. Communication Road was numbered Highway 40 in July 1970, although there was no signed connection between Highway 401 and Chatham. The 1971 Ontario Road Map indicates that this gap had been closed, with Highway 40 following Richmond Street, Queen Street, and Park Avenue East to Communication Road. Along with the completion of the St. Clair Parkway, the route was now long.

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. Highway 3 was downloaded between Leamington and west of St. Thomas, rendering Highway 40 south of Highway 401 redundant. Accordingly, Highway40 was transferred to Kent County on January 1, 1998.

Major intersections

Suffixed routes

Highway 40A

''See #Sarnia Bypass'' Highway 40A was the temporary designation for the Sarnia Bypass between its assumption by the DHO on May 1, 1963, and its completion in late 1965. The DHO maintained the portion from the Sarnia city limits at Indian Road to Highway 402. When the bypass was completed, it was renumbered as Highway 40.

Highway 40B

Highway 40B was the designation of the former route of Highway 40 through downtown Sarnia following the opening of the Sarnia Bypass in late 1965. The route followed Vidal Street from Churchill Road northeast, crossing the entrance to the

St. Clair Tunnel The St. Clair Tunnel is the name for two separate rail tunnels which were built under the St. Clair River between Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan. The original, opened in 1891 and used until it was replaced by a new larger tunnel in 1995, ...

just south of Campbell Street. It continued along Vidal to Wellington Street, where it turned west then north along Front Street to Highway 402. The following year, Highway 40B was rerouted from Vidal Street along Confederation Street west to Christina Street and north to Wellington Street. On August 24, 1979, the Donahue Bridge was opened over the St. Clair Tunnel, and Vidal Street split into a one-way pair with Brock Street to the north of the bridge. Highway 40B was rerouted along the one-way pairing to London Road then west to Front Street by 1980. It remained this way until some point between 1992 and 1996, when it was decommissioned as a provincial highway.

Highway 40C

Highway 40C was signed along Cromwell Street and Front Street in downtown Sarnia briefly during the mid-1960s. It was extended from Exmouth Street to Highway 402 on January 6, 1964. The 1965 DHO Annual Report indicates that the route began at Vidal Street and ended at Errol Road (which intersects Christina Street but not Front Street), while the 1965 Ontario Road Map indicates that the portion of Front Street north of Exmouth Street was part of Highway 40C. The route does not appear on any other official road maps.

References

External links

Highway 40 – Length and Route

{{Ontario King's Highways 040 Roads in Chatham-Kent Transport in Sarnia