King's Highway 58A, commonly referred to as Highway 58A, is 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 C ...

. The short route serves to connect Highway 58 with Highway 140 and passes beneath the

Welland Canal The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. It forms a key section of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. Traversing the Niagara Peninsula from Port Weller in St. Catharines ...

through the

Townline Tunnel The Townline Tunnel is an underwater tunnel in Welland, Ontario, Canada carrying Highway 58A as well as the Canadian Pacific Railway under the Welland Canal. The tunnel The Townline Tunnel is a two-cell reinforced concrete tunnel with a re ...

. The entire route is located within the city of

Welland Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750. The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-on ...

in the

Regional Municipality of Niagara The Regional Municipality of Niagara, also colloquially known as the Niagara Region or Region of Niagara, is a regional municipality comprising twelve municipalities of Southern Ontario, Canada. The regional seat is in Thorold. It is the souther ...

. The route was established by 1978, following completion of the

Welland By-Pass The Welland By-pass, completed in 1973, was a massive construction project on the Welland Canal in Ontario, Canada. A new channel long was constructed, providing a shorter, more direct alignment between Port Robinson and Port Colborne and by-pa ...

project, and has remained unchanged since then.

Route description

Highway 58A passes through the Townline Tunnel, one of the three

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

s under the Welland Canal. The majority of the route follows Townline Road, although a short section at the eastern end travels along Reaker Road and Netherby Road. Beginning at the northern terminus of the southern section of Highway 58, the highway travels east, parallel with two railway lines. The road intersects Canal Bank Road (north) / The Kingsway (south) after crossing an earth plug on the old Welland Canal, now the Welland Recreational Waterway. It then curves slightly southwards and begins descending towards the Townline Tunnel. It encounters Humberstone Road and then passes beneath a railway prior to entering the tunnel. At the eastern end of the tunnel, the route encounters Rusholme Road before passing beneath Highway 140. It turns north onto Reaker Road and then west onto Netherby Road to end at an at-grade intersection with Highway 140.

History

Highway 58A was established during the 1970s following completion of the Welland By-Pass project of the Welland Canal and Highway 140. Initially envisioned as the southern terminus for Highway 406, the planned route first appeared on the Official Ontario Road Map in 1971, though it had been proposed since the release of Niagara Peninsula Planning Study in 1964. Planning for the Townline Tunnel began immediately following the announcement of the planned Welland Bypass by the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority in 1965. It was opened to automobile traffic on July 13, 1972. Despite this, the Highway 58 designation did not appear on an official road map until 1978. The route has remained unchanged since then.

Future

Route planning documents show two proposals that may utilize the Highway 58A corridor: a southern extension of Highway 406 and the eastern portion of the Mid-Peninsula Highway, referred to as the Niagara South Highway in planning documents. Neither proposal has garnered approval or undergone environmental assessment at this time.

Major intersections

References

{{Ontario King's Highways 058A Roads in the Regional Municipality of Niagara Transport in Welland