Highways in Canada

[ssiguy]

There is no city in the country of comparable size that comes close to London for traffic.......it's not even a competition.

What my friend said above is true but originally the 401 was suppose to be not an urban freeway but one that was closer to the city. It was originally intended to about 3km north of where it is now which would have made it a very good urban route and yet would not have ruined the city as, at the time, that was still just country land. If look on a map the original 1950s plan was for it to run near Commissioners Road and actually head onto Toronto being slightly north of Ingersol as opposed to be slightly south of the town.

St.Thomas bitched because it was going to be too far and so the "compromised" on the current route. The 402 was suppose to be a northern by-pass and was never intended on stopping at London but continuing further east to hook up at the 403 at Woodstock essentially meaning going from Sarnia to Toronto didn't require taking the 401. It would have given Londoners a huge benefit but alas the wealthy area of North London, headed by the Labatt family, protested, cashed in some political chips and voila.......the route you have today.

London is an older city and a wealthy one with beautiful downtown neighbourhoods so there has always been a backlash against not so much the idea of a freeway but exactly where to put it with demolishing a whole neighbourhood. London is also at the Fork of the Thames and one of Canada's busiest railway junctions so the city is crisscrossed by river valleys and railway tracks much like Winnipeg.

London is impossible to get around but conversely it didn't have any wholesale slaughter of inner city neighbourhoods and hence the city is continuous as opposed to being divided by wide freeways like Kitchener.