Ontario Highway 8

Highway 8
A map of Highway 8   Highway 8   Waterloo Regional Road 8 (Cambridge)   Connecting Links
Route information
Maintained by Ministry of Transportation of Ontario
Length	159.7 km[1] (99.2 mi)
Existed	August 1918–present
Major junctions
West end	Highway 21 – Goderich
Major intersections	Highway 7 – Stratford  Highway 85 – Kitchener  Highway 401 – Cambridge  Highway 5 – Waterdown
East end	City Road 8 (near Dundas)
Location
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Major cities	Stratford, Kitchener, Cambridge, Hamilton
Towns	Goderich, Clinton
Highway system
Ontario provincial highways Current Former 400-series
← Highway 7A → Highway 9
Former provincial highways ←  Highway 7B Highway 8A  →

King's Highway 8, commonly referred to as Highway 8, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The 159.7-kilometre (99.2 mi) route travels from Highway 21 in Goderich, on the shores of Lake Huron, to Highway 5 in the outskirts of Hamilton near Lake Ontario. Before the 1970s, it continued east through Hamilton and along the edge of the Niagara Escarpment to the American border at the Whirlpool Bridge in Niagara Falls. However, the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) replaced the role of Highway 8 between those two cities, and the highway was subsequently transferred from the province to the newly formed Regional Municipality of Niagara in 1970. In 1998, the remaining portion east of Peters Corners was transferred to the city of Hamilton.

Between Stratford and Kitchener, Highway 8 is concurrent with Highway 7. The two highways widen into a four-lane freeway east of New Hamburg, eventually becoming the Conestoga Parkway within Kitchener, where it splits with Highway 7. It follows a short connector freeway – known as the Freeport Diversion, King Street Bypass, or Highway 8 expressway – south to Highway 401. The route continues as the locally maintained Regional Road 8 (King Street East) through downtown Cambridge before resuming as a provincial highway at Branchton Road and soon after that entering the city of Hamilton. Highway 8 ends east of Peters Corners at an intersection with Hamilton Road 8.

Highway 8 was one of the first roads assumed when the provincial highway system was established, though it was not numbered until 1925. The routes that predate the highway, including the Huron Road, and the Queenston Stone Road, were established during the settlement of Southwestern Ontario between 1780 and 1830. These early trails served as the principal routes in the regions through which they passed and eventually became part of the provincial highway system circa 1918.