List of roads in London, Ontario
The following is a list of the major roads in London, a major city in Southwestern Ontario. The city is organized in a grid pattern that dates back to the early 19th century, where it is based on the former Townships of London and Westminster. Many roads follow a typical grid pattern, while others follow an alignment along certain bodies of water such as the Westminster Ponds and Thames River. Each geographical township's layout of roads are different. This has led to jogs in the road network, most of which have since been corrected.
Adelaide Street
Adelaide Street is a north–south arterial road in London, as well as in Middlesex Centre. The total length from Commissioners Road to its northern terminus is, of which is within the city limits of London.Its northern terminus is at Highway 7. It runs through London where it is bisected into northern and southern segments by the south branch of the Thames River and ends at Commissioners Road East. It continues to the south at Southdale Road East where it ends south of Newbold Street, just metres north of Highway 401.
An overpass of Canadian National Railway tracks south of York Street was opened circa 1962. In 2018 the city announced that Adelaide Street between Central and Pall Mall will be converted to an underpass under the Canadian Pacific rail tracks. Construction began in 2021 and it is expected to be completed in 2025.
History
The reason for the road interruption is because Westminster Ponds is situated between Commissioners and Southdale Roads.In the early 1970s, there had existed plans to extend Adelaide as a four-lane road to meet with Pond Mills Road at Southdale using a CNR track's right-of-way, or to meet with its southern continuation. These plans were abandoned after Westminster Ponds were declared an environmentally significant area.
At the same time, transportation-oriented studies suggested that Adelaide Street South be connected with Exeter Road, the then-Highway 135. These plans have since been abandoned as Exeter Road was eventually connected to Highway 401 via a westbound-only interchange.
The city outlined in their 2005 edition of their official plan to extend Adelaide Street south of Highway 401 to meet Sise Road at Wilton Grove Road. There is yet to be a timeline to be announced for this roadwork.
Base Line Road ''and'' Byron Baseline Road
Byron Baseline Road is a main thoroughfare in the Byron section of London, extending west from the intersection of Commissioners Road with Springbank Drive to Westdel Bourne. There are proposals to align the west end with Elviage Drive.The road was originally known as Base Line Road, which was also the name of five other segments of road not connected to it, but altogether forming the base line of Westminster geographic township. The name of the Byron segment was changed in the 1980s to distinguish it from the two remaining disconnected segments.
One segment extended from what is now Old Wonderland Road to half-a-block east of Melcrest Road; it is now part of Eaton Park Drive. A segment now known as Base Line Road East and Base Line Road West is extended off the base line north to join Southcrest Drive. The third segment of Base Line Road runs between Emerson and Helena Avenues. A fourth segment is now Westmount Hills Drive. A possible additional segment is now parts of Chippendale Crescent and Burlington Crescent.
Base Line Road was never developed as a continuous roadway due to some obstructive terrain, particularly west of Westmount Drive. Commissioners Road is a continuous roadway close by.
Boler Road
Boler Road is a north–south arterial road, extending from the Thames River, southward through Byron to end at Southdale Road. Sanatorium Road continues north, joining Riverside Drive and ending at Oxford Street in the Oakridge area.History
Boler Road originally ran southward from Old Bridge Road in Byron. In the mid-1960s, the one-lane truss bridge over the Thames River connecting Boler Road to Riverside Drive was replaced with a deck bridge, and Boler Road was diverted onto the new bridge.In the 1970s, there were conceptual plans to realign Boler Road south of Baseline Road to join Colonel Talbot Road north of Southdale Road. This bypass, which was never constructed, would have departed present-day Boler Road at Wayne Road. This area has since been developed.
Prior to London's annexation of Westminster in 1993, the Westminster-section of Boler Road formed part of Middlesex County Road 26.
There have been conceptual plans for a number of years to join Boler and Colonel Talbot Roads via an extension south of Southdale Road, which would join Colonel Talbot Road in the vicinity of Pack Road, north of Lambeth. A timeline for this extension has yet to be determined.
Bradley Avenue
Bradley Avenue is an east–west arterial road in the southern portion of the city.History
Compared to other major streets in London, Bradley Avenue has a relatively modern existence. Originally a two-block long connecting road between Wellington Road and Dearness Drive, its subsequent extension was the result of the massive suburban growth in the south end of the city during the 1970s and 1980s. The road was built in stages to correlate with this growth. Bradley Avenue is built on its own alignment between White Oak Road and Highbury Avenue, with the remainder of the road located on former Pond View Road, which was severed by Highbury Avenue in the 1960s.In 2007, it was voted as the second worst road in Ontario in a CAA poll.
Future extension
Bradley Avenue is proposed to be extended from its current western terminus at White Oak Road to connect with Pack Road. Construction is tied to the completion of new housing development in the area. No definitive timeline is set for this construction. As of November 2024, Bradley Avenue will be extended from Wharncliffe Road to White Oaks Road with construction yet to start by 2025.Clarke Road
Clarke Road is an main route in the eastern part of London, starting at Hamilton Road and proceeding north past the city limits to Highway 7. When the route easterly approaches the junction with Veterans Memorial Parkway and the Fanshawe conservation area entrance, it continues north as if a natural continuation of Veterans Memorial Parkway. Much of the route is two-lane road. A bridge over the North Thames River between Kilally Road and Fanshawe Park Road was completed in the late 1960s, closing the one gap in the road.Colonel Talbot Road
Colonel Talbot Road is a roadway in the London area. Its northernmost point starts at Byron Baseline Road in the east area of Byron and runs south to Lambeth, where it intersects with Longwoods Road and becomes Highway 4. From there, the highway crosses over Highway 402 and Highway 401 and ends shortly thereafter at Southminster Bourne, continuing south as Sunset Drive. Highway 4 continues a short distance to the south, to Highway 3 at Talbotville Royal. The road also continues a short distance north of Byron Baseline Road to Commissioners Road, as North Street.The road is named after Colonel Thomas Talbot, who was in charge of settling the area in the 19th century. For many years, the road was known as North Talbot Road, and assumed its current name in the late 1980s. Prior to the City of London annexation of Westminster Township in 1993, the road was also known as Middlesex County Road 40 north of Lambeth.
Colonel Talbot Road interchanges with Highway 401 using an outdated cloverleaf interchange design. This junction is planned to be reconstructed along with the widening of Highway 401 between Highway 4 and Highway 402.
Commissioners Road
Commissioners Road is an east–west thoroughfare south of the Thames River. Although it roughly parallels Base Line Road, it is the next main thoroughfare north of Southdale Road, extending in the east to join Hamilton Road, and in the west to join Oxford Street West.Commissioners has a steep-winding hill between Springbank Drive and Westmount Drive; there is a corridor outlined on the city official plan to circle around this hill, but although it has been identified for several decades, there is no time line for it to be built.
Dingman Drive
Dingman Drive is a rural arterial road in south-central London at the edge of the city's urban growth boundary, and was the Fourth Concession Road of Westminster Township. It overpasses Highway 401 just east of the Highway 402 interchange. The road starts in the west at Wonderland Road and ends in the east at Westchester Bourne in Thames Centre.Dundas Street
Dundas Street is a very long historic route running from London to Toronto, and represented the First Concession Road, or Base Line Road, of London Township. The portion within London runs for as a main east–west road through central and eastern London. Much of it was designated as Highway 2 until the late 1990s. It begins where Riverside Drive eastbound crosses the Thames River, and ends at the eastern city limits, although travelers continuing east through Thamesford and Woodstock also will still be on Dundas Street until it changes its name to Governors Road and becomes discontinuous near Paris. Except in the downtown core, west of Wellington Street, the road is a four-lane road, with no median strip. A former western section, Dundas Street West, was incorporated into Riverside Drive in the 1970s.''For the entirety of the street between London and Toronto, see Dundas Street.''
Fanshawe Park Road
Fanshawe Park Road is a east–west arterial road formerly known as Fifth Concession Road of London Township. It extends from the Fanshawe Conservation Area east of Clarke Road westward to the city limits where it continues as Egremont Drive, Middlesex County Road 22. Fanshawe Park is bisected into eastern and western halves by Richmond Street.Although there is no exit east of Clarke Road, prior to the construction of the Clarke Road bridge over the Thames River, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority permitted through traffic between the east end of Fanshawe Park Road and the current Fanshawe conservation park entrance on Clarke Road between Huron and Kilally, crossing the Thames on the flood-control dam structure. The old north entrance has been gated for many years since then, but recently reopened to provide access to other park attractions without a through connection.
Prior to the completion of the Fanshawe Dam, Fifth Concession Road went downhill and crossed the river on a bridge before climbing to connect with Crumlin Side Road, at what is now the intersection of Lakeside Drive and Wye Creek Drive in Thames Centre's West Nissouri Township.