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presents

The Highways of Hamilton /

Ontario 403

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Highway	Duration	Start	Terminus	Length (km)
ON 403	1963-1965	Longwood Rd. (ON 2), Hamilton	Halton County line north of Hamilton	3
ON 403	1965-1969	Aberdeen Ave., Hamilton	Halton County line north of Hamilton	5
ON 403	1969-1997	Wilson St. (ON 2), Duffs Corners	Halton Region line north of Hamilton	16
ON 403	1997-	Brant County line west of Jerseyville	Halton Region line north of Hamilton	33

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Overview

Highway 403 (aka "The 403") is an east-west concrete ribbon, six lanes wide in places. This controlled-access highway functions as a link between Woodstock and Mississauga, and replaced the local portion of Highway 2 in phases during its protracted, multi-decade construction. Its alignment passes in proximity to Coote's Paradise, and is routed through the creek valley which separates downtown Hamilton from McMaster University.

Not much more to say than that. At least the motorists who use it get to see the escarpment as they travel home in gridlock, isolated from the world in their shiny metal boxes.

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History

Although the QEW paved the way, the "freeway era" of Ontario definitively began with the initiation of the 400 series of four-laned expressways in 1952. Highways were numbered off more or less in sequential order, with 400, 401, and 402 being the first pieces of the puzzle to fall into place.

Highway 401 was an east-west road conceived as a controlled-access replacement for Highway 2, paralleling its course from Windsor to the Quebec border. The two highways diverged between Woodstock and Mississauga, with 401 taking a northern tack to serve Waterloo-Kitchener while Brantford and Hamilton remained on the older route. This produced an opening for a connecting link...so in the late 1950s, plans were drafted for Highway 403, the first major expansion of the system.

Construction of ON 403 began at the Queen Elizabeth Way in Burlington, and proceeded southwest through an area that had been ceded from Wentworth County to Halton a few years before. The first segment in Hamilton proper opened in December 1963. By late 1969 the highway was completed through to Duff's Corners, where westbound traffic was diverted back onto Highway 2.

Simultaneous to the 403's construction in Hamilton, a segment was also built in Brantford. Tying the two together, however, was a feat that wouldn't happen for nearly 30 years. In 1990 work finally got under way to bridge the 403's 18-kilometre gap, and the completed road opened in August 1997.

Hamilton's portion of ON 403 has experienced no significant realignments or adjustments other than the shifting of its endpoint during phased construction:

• A: The first phase of 403's construction in Hamilton commandeered a 1.1km portion of Highway 2's course past Cootes Paradise......including the pre-existing Highway 2 arch bridge over the Desjardins Canal, which was appropriated for the northbound lanes of the new road. This bridge was ultimately replaced in 2018, but the original piers remain visible today. From 1963 to 1965, westbound traffic on 403 was diverted back onto Highway 2 at Longwood Road.

• B: In 1965, the west terminus moved to Aberdeen Avenue. The connection to Longwood Road was also severed.
• C: In 1969, the terminus was moved to Wilson Street.
• D: In 1997, the highway was made through to Brant County.

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Gallery

All photos are by the author, 2022-2025:

The 403.

An oldie but a goodie: An overhead guide sign for 403 in downtown Hamilton, complete with the angled arrow and flat-topped "3" that the DHO and MTC used until the 1980s.

The only abandoned infrastructure of the 403 are the piers of its former northbound bridge over the Desjardins Canal, originally built in 1931-32 for Highway 2.

A sign that I'm almost home.

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Links

• Highway 403 and the 403/Queen Elizabeth Way - Alps' Roads
• King's Highway 403 - Asphalt Planet
• Ontario Highway 403 History - The King's Highways of Ontario

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