KING`S HIGHWAY NO. 401
1978
| Looking west along the westbound Highway 401 offramp to Highway 10 in Mississauga. A MGS similar to the one to the right existed on this offramp until Highway 10 was downloaded from the province to Mississauga in 1998. Autumn of 1978. | |
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Facing east along eastbound Highway 401 south of Pearson International Airport in Mississauga. Today, in stark contrast to the open fields visible in this photo, the landscape bordering Highway 401 through eastern Mississauga is dotted with commercial buildings and industrial complexes. Autumn of 1978. |
| Appears to be westbound Highway 401 collector lanes looking west from just west of the Highway 427 interchange in Mississauga. Autumn of 1978. |  |
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 A familiar ground based diagram sign indicating the start of Highway 401's collector/distributor section through Toronto. Sign located on eastbound Highway 401 just east of Highway 427. Autumn of 1978. |
| Looking west along westbound Highway 401 towards the Highway 427 interchange in Etobicoke. Sorry about the poor quality of some of these shots. Camera technology from 30 years ago isn't up to snuff with modern standards. Autumn of 1978. |
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Interesting BGS located on the eastbound Highway 401 express lanes in Etobicoke trying to convey to motorists that to travel to Barrie, follow Highway 400. From what I can tell, then term "via" only came to prominence on Ontario highway signs following the introduction of bilingualism (as "via" is a term common to both English and French, meaning "by way of"). Prior to the early 90s, "follow" or "to" seemed to be more common, although this sign is an exception to that rule. This sign was removed c. 1992 and has not been seen since (Here you can see a pic of it in 1989). Autumn of 1978. |
| Facing south along Keele Street at where it crosses Highway 401 in North York. A couple of things pop out at me when looking at this photo. First, notice the presence of truss lighting affixed to the overpass's side railings. Generally speaking, the MTC did not install the illumination on municipal roadways that pass over a freeway under its jurisdiction. This seems to be an exception, although I've also seen this phenomenon on interchanges located on Highway 85 in Waterloo with some frequency. Second, notice the ramp signage for the southbound Keele to eastbound Highway 401 onramp. This type of overhead sign affixed to a single standard was quite common on GTA-area 400-series onramps up until the mid 1990s, when the MTO gradually began phasing them out in favour of smaller, ground mounted signage. Autumn of 1978. |  |
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Looking east along the 401 from the Keele Street overpass in North York. Highway 401 was widened significantly in the late 1960s from its initial 4 lane width, but since then only modest widening has occurred. For intstance, 32 years after this photo was taken, only 2 additional lanes exist in this location today. Autumn of 1978. |
| This is actually an artistic rendition of the Highway 401 and Allen Expressway interchange that was hanging in a lobby of MTC's Downsview complex in 1978. Highways have become somewhat of a taboo subject in modern times, so it's hard to imagine something similar hanging proudly in a government office today. Autumn of 1978. |
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| View of a gantry located on the westbound Highway 401 collector lanes at the Bathurst Street exit in North York. A similar, although bilingual, diagram sign exists near this location to this day. Autumn of 1978. |
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Facing east along the eastbound Highway 401 express lanes near the Bathurst Street underpass in North York. Autumn of 1978. |
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Overhead gantry located on the eastbound Highway 401 express lanes approximately 1 kilometre east of the Highway 48 interchange in Scarborough. Much like today, MTC/MTO express to collector signage does not indicate that the collector lanes are not "exit only" lanes. Autumn of 1978. |
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Wide view of Highway 401's cross-section from an unknown overpass in Scarborough, east of Highway 48. You can tell by the grading work done to both sides of the main carriagway that additional lanes were planned by the MTC. Although, by comparing this shot with some of the same area in the 1989 collection, the 401 through east Scarborough was still 6 lanes wide 11 years later. In the world of highways, sometimes progress moves slowly. Autumn of 1978. |
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Looking east along eastbound Highway 401 approaching the Meadowvale Road interchange in Scarborough. Autumn of 1978. |
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Overhead gantry located on eastbound Highway 401 at the Meadowvale Road interchange in Scarborough. Autumn of 1978. |
| Sign indicating your entering Metropolitan Toronto, located on westbound Highway 401 just east of the Rouge River in Pickering. Rougemount Drive overpass in the background? Autumn of 1978. |
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