The Highways of Hamilton /

Ontario 2

Highway	Duration	Start	Terminus	Length (km)
ON 2	1925-1958	Brant County line west of Alberton	Halton County line east of Aldershot	33
ON 2	1958-1998	Brant County line west of Alberton	Halton County/Region line north of Hamilton	25

Overview

Highway 2 could be thought of as Canada's equivalent to Route 66: A highway of history and magnitude crossing provincial lines, linking the middle of the country to the coast and forming a conduit for hopes and dreams. From the 1920s to the 1970s, Highway 2 traversed the southern edge of Ontario from Windsor to the St. Lawrence Seaway, then continued as a series of provincial highways with coordinated numbering through Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia to a terminus in Halifax. The complete length of the "2" highways was over 2000 kilometres end to end.

Also like Route 66, Highway 2's importance laid the groundwork for its own replacement and demise. In 1947, a four-lane controlled-access alternate route of Highway 2 opened to traffic west of Oshawa. In 1952, this segment became the basis for Highway 401: A new designation for a soulless multi-laned road destined to eclipse its predecessor. Construction on the highway commenced in phases, with segments around Windsor, London, Toronto, and Kingston opening by the end of the 1950s. By late 1968 the 401 was complete, demoting Highway 2 to a local access road for much of its length. Even then, however, Highway 2 wasn't totally obsolesced: The two highways took on different trajectories between Woodstock and Toronto, with the 401 serving Waterloo-Kitchener and 2 retaining title to Brantford and Hamilton.

This reprieve was nothing more than a holding action until a second controlled-access highway plugged the link. In 1963 the first segment of Highway 403 opened to traffic, completely commandeering part of 2's original Hamilton route. Construction continued in fits and starts for the next 34 years, culminating in August 1997 when the last segment of 403 between Brantford and Ancaster was complete. Highway 2 was now completely eclipsed.

In 1998, the entire length of ON 2 was excised from the provincial highway system (except in Leeds and Grenville Counties, where an insulting sub-kilometre stub remained) and converted into a patchwork of county and regional roads. And although the region and city of Hamilton have maintained the integrity of most of the "downloaded" provincial highways it inherited, there was no local reprieve for Highway 2: The course of the former highway presently languishes without an identifying number.

West of Hamilton's pre-2001 city limits, the former route of Highway 2 is signed as Wilson Street. In Hamilton's urban centre, Highway 2 was last routed down Main Street, Dundurn Street, and York Boulevard to Aldershot and beyond...though the historical routing changed more than once.

History

Like Hamilton's other single-digit highways, Highway 2 originated in Ontario's highway route numbering plan of 1925. Its heritage as a transportation link traces back even earlier, as it was routed on pre-existing infrastructure from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and taken under the province's control as a cohesive highway in 1917. Its name in those days was lofty indeed: "The Provincial Highway," not to be confused with any other.

Alignment adjustments happened to some of Highway 2's predecessor roads. "Old Ancaster Road" in Dundas is a case in point: It's obviously a precursor of Highway 2, running parallel to the newer construct. Yet historical maps show that it was bypassed by 1875, a full half-century before numbered highways even existed!

Highway 2 itself was originally routed along the following streets in downtown Hamilton and Aldershot (part of Wentworth County prior to 1958):

Main Street east from city limits to beyond Macklin
King Street east from Main to Dundurn (via a direct connection now partially obliterated by the 403)
Dundurn Street north to York
York Boulevard north to Plains
Plains Road east to Royal Botanical Gardens Centre
Botanical Drive and Spring Gardens Road, looping back to Plains
Plains Road northeast to King
King Road southeast to North Shore
North Shore Boulevard northeast to Burlington

The first four segments were also concurrencies that carried other highways.

Over the years, the road would see the following adjustments:

A: In 1932, ON 2 was placed on a newly-constructed alignment through Hamilton skirting Cootes Paradise via Longwood Road. This eliminated part of its concurrency with ON 6 and ON 8. A traffic circle was also added.
B: It appears that ON 2 was originally routed along Greenwood Drive/Lockhart Road between Aldershot and Burlington. By 1938 it was moved to North Shore Boulevard, and the old road became stubbed off by the QEW.
C: By 1950 a segment in Ancaster was straightened, leaving behind Hendry Lane.

D: In 1950 a 90-degree turn between Hamilton and Aldershot was smoothed out, leaving behind Botanical Drive (shown above, facing east) and Spring Gardens Road.
E: In 1958 the Aldershot portion of Wentworth County was annexed by Halton County and the city of Burlington, resulting in Wentworth's portion of ON 2 becoming 8 kilometres shorter.

(DHO & Army Service Establishment, 1963; DHO, 1964; Dept. of Energy, Mines & Resources, 1972)

F: In 1963, ON 2's bridge over the Desjardins Canal and portions of its surrounding routing were commandeered for the course of ON 403. As a result, ON 2 reverted to its pre-1932 routing via Dundurn Street (with the exception of the King Street connection, which was not reinstated). The traffic circle north of the canal was also removed.
G: About 1966, ON 2 was placed on a one-way split around a web of interchanges linking it to the 403. Eastbound traffic now used King Street and Paradise Road, while westbound traffic continued to use Main and Dundurn Streets.
H: In 1998, the entire length of ON 2 in Hamilton-Wentworth was decommissioned and reclassified as an unnumbered municipal road.

Gallery

All photos are by the author, 2022-2025:

ON 2's 1932 routing carried the highway across the Desjardins Canal on a concrete arch bridge, later appropriated by ON 403. The bridge was ultimately dismantled in 2018, leaving these piers.

Five high-level bridges were constructed in the 1920s to carry ON 2 over a succession of railway tracks, ponds, and streams near Hamilton and Halton's present-day boundary. These were replaced in the 1970s...but the crumbling, twisted remnants of concrete and steel from the 1920s structure still lurk under one of the spans. Railings bear the letters "DHO" for the Department of Highways of Ontario, the MTO's pre-1970s ancestor.

Nearby, a monument stone bears a dedication plaque for the 1972 reconstruction of the bridges...and a plaque from one of the original 1921 bridges is hiding on the other side! It gives reference to the "Toronto-Hamilton Highway," as the bridge was erected before numbered roads in Ontario were even a thing.

presents

The Highways of Hamilton /

Ontario 2

Overview

History

Gallery

Links