The Middle Road

Middle Road
Middle Road
Queen Street extension
Route information
	Maintained by Ontario Department of Highways
Length	61.6 km[citation needed] (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
Location
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Highway system
	Roads in Ontario; ;
	Freeway development in Ontario

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. It borrowed the name of Middle Road from a concession road in Toronto Township between 1st Concession South and 2nd Concession South during the early 1800s.

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 Melville Smith into a divided, limited access freeway, the first such intercity stretch in North America when it was opened in 1939.^{[Note 1]}

The Middle Road provided the blueprint for Highway 401, an expressway that became a key contributor to the economic success of Ontario.^[2]

^ Cite error: The named reference FtF79 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Shragge p. 95 "as geography professor, E.G. Pleva, of the University of Western Ontario stated: ‘Highway 401 is the most important single development changing the social and economic pattern of Ontario. It is still transforming the province's economy and the social, work and spending habits of its people.’"

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[3] Shragge p. 95 "as geography professor, E.G. Pleva, of the University of Western Ontario stated: ‘Highway 401 is the most important single development changing the social and economic pattern of Ontario. It is still transforming the province's economy and the social, work and spending habits of its people.’"

[1]

[Note 1]

[2]