Ontario Highway 8
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 outskirts of Hamilton near Lake Ontario. Before the 1970s, it continued east through Hamilton and along the edge of the Niagara Escarpment to the American border at the Whirlpool Bridge in Niagara Falls. However, the Queen Elizabeth Way replaced the role of Highway8 between those two cities, and the highway was subsequently transferred from the province to the newly formed Regional Municipality of Niagara in 1970. In 1998, the remaining portion east of Peters Corners was transferred to the city of Hamilton.
Between Stratford and Kitchener, Highway8 is concurrent with Highway 7. The two highways widen into a four-lane freeway east of New Hamburg, eventually becoming the Conestoga Parkway within Kitchener, where it splits with Highway7. It follows a short connector freeway – known as the Freeport Diversion, King Street Bypass, or Highway 8 expressway – south to Highway 401. The route continues as the locally maintained Regional Road 8 through downtown Cambridge before resuming as a provincial highway at Branchton Road and soon after that entering the city of Hamilton. Highway8 ends east of Peters Corners at an intersection with Hamilton Road8.
Highway8 was one of the first roads assumed when the provincial highway system was established, though it was not numbered until 1925. The routes that predate the highway, including the Huron Road, and the Queenston Stone Road, were established during the settlement of Southwestern Ontario between 1780 and 1830. These early trails served as the principal routes in the regions through which they passed and eventually became part of the provincial highway system circa 1918.
Route description
Highway8 is a route that connects the shores of Lake Huron at Goderich with the head of Lake Ontario in Hamilton. Portions of the highway through Goderich, Clinton, Seaforth, Mitchell and Stratford are locally maintained under a Connecting Link Agreement with the provincial government.Highway8 begins at its western terminus in downtown Goderich, at a junction with Highway 21, within Huron County. It exits the town travelling southeast as a rural two-lane highway running roughly parallel and south of the Maitland River, passing through farmland outside of the many small communities it serves. At Holmesville, the river moves northwards while the highway continues southeast, now parallel to and north of the Goderich–Exeter Railway. Soon after, it passes through Clinton, where it intersects the northern terminus of Highway 4. Highway8 is completely straight for approximately between Clinton and Stratford. After bisecting Seaforth, the highway enters Perth County and passes through the communities of Dublin, Mitchell and Sebringville.
Entering Stratford as Huron Street, Highway8 widens to four lanes. It crosses the Avon River, then turns east onto Ontario Street before encountering Highway7 at Erie Street. The two routes become concurrent for the next, between Stratford and Kitchener. East of Stratford, the highway narrows back to two lanes and travels north of and parallel to the CN railway Guelph Subdivision. After passing through the village of Shakespeare, the route enters the Regional Municipality of Waterloo as it widens to four lanes and curves onto the New Hamburg Bypass. It travels south of New Hamburg and crosses the Nith River before becoming a divided four-lane freeway near Baden. At Trussler Road, the combined Highway7/8 enters the city of Kitchener, where it is known as the Conestoga Parkway.
The Conestoga Parkway runs through Kitchener, widening to a six-lane freeway near Fischer Hallman Road. At King Street in the city's centre, Highway8 splits off southeastward at an interchange, while Highway7 continues along the Conestoga Parkway. Traffic on Highway8 heading northwest can continue under the Conestoga Parkway onto King Street into downtown Kitchener.
Between the Conestoga Parkway and Highway401, Highway8 follows an eight-lane freeway known as the Freeport Diversion or Highway8 Expressway.
The expressway initially travels southeast, passing under Franklin Street before swerving slightly south. It crosses over the Grand River at its midpoint, followed by a partial interchange with King Street East that provides access to Highway401 westbound to London. The expressway narrows to six lanes and later to four lanes at Sportsworld Drive. It merges to eastbound Highway401 and from westbound 401.
The maintains approximately of King Street and Shantz Hill Road at the Highway401 interchange as an unsigned portion of Highway8.
Within Cambridge, the route continues as Waterloo Regional Road 8 along Shantz Hill Road, Fountain Street, King Street, Coronation Boulevard, and Dundas Street.
Highway8 resumes at Branchton Road, where it exits urban Cambridge into farmland travelling southeast. After approximately, the route enters Hamilton. It bypasses the communities of Sheffield and Rockton before eventually reaching Peters Corners, where it meets the western terminus of Highway5 at a multilane roundabout. Highway8 ends to the east at an intersection with Hamilton Road8.
History
Predecessors (1780–1918)
While its history as a provincial highway dates back to 1918, significant portions of the roads that would be taken over by the province and eventually designated as Highway8 had existed for nearly a century or longer. These include the Huron Road between Berlin and Goderich, which was built ;the Dundas and the Hamilton Stone Road that were established in 1819 along a trail blazed between Hamilton and Berlin in 1798;
and the Queenston Road,
established along an aboriginal trail at the foot of the Niagara Escarpment in the 1780s.
When settlers began arriving in the Niagara Peninsula following the American Revolution and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, natives were non-existent in the area, the local tribe having been ravaged over a century earlier. Trails crisscrossed the peninsula, with the dominant routes favouring an east–west orientation. The most significant of these was the Iroquois Trail that traversed along the foot of the Niagara Escarpment. In the east, Queenston provided an ideal crossing of the Niagara River. In the west, the escarpment breaks at Dundas, where the trail continued towards the Grand River at present-day Brantford, thus providing a portage between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The Iroquois Trail was utilised by famous historical figures, including John Graves Simcoe in 1793 on his voyage to Detroit, as well as during the War of 1812. It was widened to accommodate wagon traffic by 1785.
Between approximately 1800 and 1820, large numbers of German and Dutch settlers from Pennsylvania travelled west across the Niagara Peninsula and onward to the Waterloo area. A trail cut from Hamilton to the Grand River, at Galt, in 1798 or 1799, was gradually widened to be fit for wagons by 1819. While Niagara-on-the-Lake served as the initial focal point of settlement into southwestern Ontario, Hamilton emerged in 1816 at the head of Lake Ontario, and immediately became the new hub for settlers. The route between Hamilton and Waterloo was improved to a stone road circa 1836.
Over the years the route was known by various names, including the Waterloo Road, the Galt Road, the Old Dutch Road, the Beverly Road, and most often the Dundas and Hamilton Stone Road.
Settlement beyond Waterloo was accomplished by the Canada Company, which acquired the Huron Tract in 1826.
In order to implement the grand settlement plan, a trail was surveyed by Mahlon Burwell and William Dunlop from Guelph to Lake Huron at the mouth of the Maitland River beginning in 1827. After company commissioner Thomas Mercer Jones rode the muddy trail from Guelph to Goderich in June 1829, he recommended that it be widened to four rods, which was done by the end of that year by Colonel Anthony Van Egmond. The trail was further improved to allow for the passage of wagons by 1832. The Canada Company venture would ultimately fail, but not before establishing the present-day settlement patterns.
Designation and paving (1918–1949)
Until 1918, the majority of the primary roads through southern Ontario formed part of the County Road System. The Department of Public Works and Highways paid up to 60% of the construction and maintenance costs for these roads, while the counties were responsible for the remaining 40%. The Ontario government passed an act in 1917 to permit the newly formed Department of Public Highways to take over responsibility and upkeep of a provincial highway system. The initial system, between Windsor and Quebec, was bookended by branches to Niagara and Ottawa.The branch to Niagara would become the first provincial highway connection to the United States, and later become the easternmost portion of Highway8.
The Hamilton–Queenston Highway was assumed as part of "The Provincial Highway" in August 1918.
In 1919, the federal government passed the Canada Highways Act, which provided C$20,000,000 to provinces under the condition that they establish an official highway network; up to 40% of construction costs would be subsidized. The first network plan was approved on February26, 1920, and included the Queenston Road.
Most of the remainder of what would become Highway8 – from Goderich to Hamilton – was assumed by the department throughout July 1920.
On October13, several roads were taken over by the province between St. David's near Queenston and the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge in Niagara Falls. The new route followed the present Four Mile Creek Road, St. Paul Avenue, and Portage Road south to Thorold Stone Road, which it followed east to Stanley Avenue, thence south to Bridge Street.
However, none of these roads would receive a route number until the summer of 1925.
Initially Highway8 was almost entirely unpaved, except within towns and portions between Stratford and Shakespeare as well as between Kitchener and Hamilton. During the initial few years of the existence of the highway network, which were spent rebuilding culverts, bridges, and ditches, paving took a low priority. The first sections of Highway8 paved by the DPHO were in 1922 between Hamilton and Stoney Creek, as well as between Sebringville and Stratford.
The rest of the highway between Hamilton and Niagara Falls, as well as the remaining gaps between Kitchener and Hamilton, were paved the following year. Work was completed between Shakespeare and New Hamburg, as well as on the gaps between Petersburg and Kitchener in 1924. In 1925, paving between Mitchell and Sebringville was completed.
At this time, Highway8 was paved from Mitchell to New Hamburg, and from Petersburg to Niagara Falls.
In 1926, paving was completed for southeast of Goderich, as well as between Dublin and Mitchell. The following year, it was completed on the remaining gap between Goderich and Clinton, as well as between Seaforth and Dublin.
The final unpaved section of Highway8, between Clinton and Seaforth,
was completed in 1928.