Ontario Highway 4

Template:Short description Template:Infobox road King's Highway 4, also known as Highway 4, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Originally much longer than its present Template:Convert length, more than half of Highway 4 was transferred to the responsibility of local governments in 1998. It travels between Highway 3 in Talbotville Royal, north-west of St. Thomas, and Highway 8 in Clinton, passing through the city of London inbetween.

Highway 4 was first designated in 1920, when a Template:Convert route between Talbotville Royal and Elginfield was assumed by the Department of Highways. It was extended in the early 1930s both south to Port Stanley as well as north to Flesherton.

Route description

The Highway 4 / Talbot Street junction in St. Thomas

HighwayTemplate:Nbsp4 starts at an intersection with HighwayTemplate:Nbsp3 in Talbotville Royal and continues north as a two-lane undivided highway. For most of its length, the highway bisects agricultural land. It travels along a short Template:Convert concurrency with Highway 401 from the community of Tempo to Wonderland Road. It encounters an interchange with Highway 402 before entering London city limits. As HighwayTemplate:Nbsp4 enters London, it becomes a Connecting Link, known locally as Wonderland Road. Wonderland Road is a 4-lane arterial thoroughfare serving western London, with several big-box stores, a mall, and residential areas. The route turns east onto Sunningdale Road West, which it for a short distance before turning north along Richmond Street.<ref name="2016aadtpdf">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="gmaps">Template:Google maps</ref><ref name="2022 mapart">Template:Cite map</ref>

HighwayTemplate:Nbsp4 continues north, passing through Arva, when the surrounding terrain returns to farmland. HighwayTemplate:Nbsp4 passes through Birr before intersecting with the western terminus of Highway 7 at Elginfield, which is also 1 km east of the Highway 23 junction with HighwayTemplate:Nbsp7. The highway then curves slightly west, passing through Lucan before continuing north at Clandeboye. From here to its terminus in Clinton, HighwayTemplate:Nbsp4 is essentially straight for Template:Convert. Continuing to be flanked by farmland, it then passes through the communities of Huron Park and Exeter. At Exeter, it crosses the former route of Highway 83. From there, it continues north, passing through the communities of Hensall, Ontario and Vanastra, Ontario before terminating at HighwayTemplate:Nbsp8 in the community of Clinton.<ref name="2016aadtpdf" /><ref name="gmaps" /><ref name="2022 mapart" /> Template:Clear

History

Highway 4 north of St. Thomas in 1948

HighwayTemplate:Nbsp4 was originally designated in 1920 when the provincial government assumed the road running from Talbotville Royal (St. Thomas) to the Northern Highway (later HighwayTemplate:Nbsp7) at Elginfield, via London. The portions within Elgin County were assumed on AugustTemplate:Nbsp4, while the portions south of London were assumed on JuneTemplate:Nbsp24. The portions north of and through London were assumed on AugustTemplate:Nbsp6.<ref name="1920-report">Template:Cite report</ref> The Template:Convert route featured a concurrency with the Provincial Highway (later HighwayTemplate:Nbsp2) between Lambeth and downtown London.<ref>Template:Cite map</ref><ref>Template:Cite map</ref>

Until the summer of 1925, Ontario highways were named rather than numbered. When route numbering was introduced, the route between St. Thomas and Elginfield became Provincial HighwayTemplate:Nbsp4.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 1927 saw several new sections of road assumed that would become portion of HighwayTemplate:Nbsp4. On SeptemberTemplate:Nbsp14, the route was extended to Highway 8 at Clinton. Further north, a new highway was created on JuneTemplate:Nbsp22, 1927, between Highway 9 at Walkerton and Highway 6 at Durham. This latter section was designated as HighwayTemplate:Nbsp4A.<ref name="1927-report">Template:Cite report</ref>

On MarchTemplate:Nbsp12, 1930, HighwayTemplate:Nbsp4 was extended to Durham, fully absorbing the route of HighwayTemplate:Nbsp4A in the process. Two months later, on MayTemplate:Nbsp11, it was extended south to Bedford Street (now Edith Cavell Boulevard) in Port Stanley.<ref name="30extensions">Template:Cite report</ref> On AprilTemplate:Nbsp11, 1934, the highway was extended east to the intersection of Highway 10 in Flesherton.<ref name="31extensions">Template:Cite report</ref> HighwayTemplate:Nbsp4 reached its maximum length of Template:Convert when it was extended from Flesherton to Highway 24 in Singhampton in the mid-1970s.<ref>Template:Cite map</ref><ref>Template:Cite map</ref><ref name="km-1997">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Downloads

Former alignment of Highway 4 looking north towards Lambeth from the Highway 402 interchange in London

As part of a series of budget cuts initiated by premier Mike Harris under his Common Sense Revolution 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. Portions of HighwayTemplate:Nbsp4 were transferred to the counties of Elgin, Huron, Bruce and Grey on JanuaryTemplate:Nbsp1, 1998.<ref name="WDW">Template:Cite report</ref>

The former portion of Highway 4 south of St. Thomas is now signed as Elgin County Road 4. The former northern portion is broken into several different roads:

• Huron County Road 4 from Clinton to near Wingham
• Bruce County Road 4 (London Road) from near Wingham to Riversdale
• A former concurrency with HighwayTemplate:Nbsp9 between Riversdale and Walkerton
• Grey County Road 4 from Walkerton to Simcoe County Road 124 just south of Singhampton

In 2017, the City of London announced that Highway 4 through London would be re-signed and re-routed via Richmond Street, Sunningdale Road, and Wonderland Road, resulting in a short concurrency with Highway 401 between the Colonel Talbot Road and Wonderland Road interchanges.<ref name=reroute>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Clear