The Middle Road

Middle Road
Queen Street extension
Route information
Maintained by Ontario Department of Highways
Length:	61.6 km (38.3 mi)
History:	Constructed 1931–1939 renamed the Queen Elizabeth Way
Major junctions
West end:	Highway 20 (Plains Road) – Burlington
	Highway 10 (Hurontario Street) – Port Credit  Highway 27 (Brown's Line) – Long Branch
East end:	Highway 2 (Lake Shore Boulevard) – Toronto
Freeway development in Ontario ← Lake Shore Road The Middle Road Queen Elizabeth Way  →

The Middle Road was the name for a historic highway in the Canadian province of Ontario, which served to link the cities of Toronto and Hamilton. The name was used between 1931 and 1939, after which the road became the northern section of the Queen Elizabeth Way.

The Middle Road was initially constructed as a depression relief project, employing 74 men to grade and widen the country lane into a four lane roadway. In 1934, the concept was reworked by Thomas McQuesten and Robert Mellville Smith into a divided, limited access freeway, the first such intercity stretch in North America when it was opened in 1939.

The Middle Road is an important development in the history of Ontario, as it provided the blueprint for Highway 401, believed by some to be the largest contributor to the current economy and standard-of-living in Ontario.

The Middle Road or Commissioners' Road, named so because of its location between what were then the highways (or historic streets) between Toronto and Hamilton, Dundas Street and Lakeshore Road, followed the same path taken by today's Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), with little exception, beginning at the Humber River and travelling to Bronte Line (where today, the QEW veers south). Since the highway followed a concession road, it was straight for almost its entire length, veering only at Browns Line (Highway 27), the Credit River, and at the Oakville border. At the time of construction, this route was surrounded by farmland, as most of the towns in the area at the time lay along Dundas or Lake Shore, to the north and south respectively. However, the highway spurred rapid development of the surrounding land; it did not take long for farmland to become subdivisions. Middle Road was also a concession created between 1st Concession South and 2nd Concession South during the early 1800s.

Most of the route was paved with concrete. The two roadways were separated by a median varying in width, often filled with trees. Most of the rows of trees along the old country lane were incorporated into the median, and new ones were planted in the gaps, as equal focus was given to functionality as aesthetics. Over most of the bridges, the two roadways converged, undivided. These were, however, a great improvement from the bridges along the old lane, as seen in the picture at left. At Highway 10 (Hurontario Street) was Canada's first cloverleaf interchange, opened in 1937.

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