Predecessors

Dundas Street is one of the oldest roads in Ontario, created before Confederation when the province was known as Upper Canada (a reference to being upstream from Lower Canada on the St. Lawrence River). Under the orders of the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, Captain Samuel Smith led 100 of the Queen's Rangers to open a road from the head of Lake Ontario (now known as Dundas) to La Tranche (later London) in early 1791. The first 32 kilometres (20 mi) from the lakehead to the Grand River—where the Mohawk village that was home to Joseph Brant was located—were blazed by the rangers by October 25, 1793. Another 75 kilometres (47 mi) were cleared from the Grand River to the forks of the Thames River by the spring of 1794.^[3]

In 1795, Asa Danforth, the namesake of Danforth Avenue, opened a road east to the new town of York (now Toronto). These early trails "involved nothing more than clearing a corridor through the bush, leaving the bigger stumps to rot, often detouring around the really big trees."^[4] The nature of travel in this period meant that daily movement was limited to several miles, and as a result hotels and taverns were established every few miles.^[4] Several of these became the seeds of villages, such as Waterdown, Cooksville and Islington.^[5]

Designation

The high-level bridge over Sixteen Mile Creek opened in 1921, replacing a winding route through the ravine valley that exists today as an access road and park trail.^[6][7]

When the Department of Public Highways of Ontario (DPHO) began taking over the responsibility of roads in 1917, it did not assign route numbers. Highways were instead initially referred to by the major cities they connected. What would become Provincial Highway 5 during the summer of 1925 was initially known as the Hamilton–Jarvis Highway and the Dundas Highway.^[8][9][10] Throughout the summer of 1920, several roads were taken over by the DPHO through Haldimand County, Wentworth County, Halton County, Peel County and York County. Within Haldimand County, the road between Jarvis and north of Caledonia was taken over (or assumed) by the province on June 24, 1920. Another set of roads were assumed through Wentworth on July 8, connecting with the portion in Haldimand County, through Hamilton to Clappison's Corners and east through Waterdown along Dundas Street. Within Peel, through what is now Mississauga, Dundas Street was assumed on July 22. A portion within York County was assumed through Etobicoke from its western boundary as far east as the village of Islington on July 29. A final segment of Dundas Street, within Halton from Waterdown to what is now Winston Churchill Boulevard, was assumed on July 31.^[11] Portions of the route through Caledonia, Hagersville, Jarvis and Hamilton were not assumed by the DPHO.^[10][11]

Several more segments of road were assumed the following year, including two portions on the outskirts of Toronto. On March 16, 3.9 kilometres (2.4 mi) of Dundas Street, between Islington Village (at the modern corners of Dundas, Bloor and Kipling) and the Toronto city limits at Jane Street were assumed by the DPHO. On September 14, another 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi) of road were assumed along Danforth Avenue, from Sibley Avenue to Kingston Road, via Pinegrove Avenue and Highview Avenue;^[12][13] Danforth Avenue did not continue east of Warden Avenue at this time, and so the DPHO constructed a new railway overpass and extended the route to Kingston Road, opening in 1925.^[14]

Within Wentworth County, the construction of the Clappison Cut through the Niagara Escarpment was underway by 1921, with the aim of bypassing the winding old route that is known today as Old Guelph Road.^[9] The new route, which travelled straight along the boundary between East and West Flamboro, was assumed on January 12, 1921.^[12] The province and the City of Hamilton also constructed several new bridges across Cootes Paradise to create a new northwest entrance into Hamilton. The new entrance, connecting the Toronto–Hamilton Highway (later Highway 2) with the incomplete route up the escarpment to Clappison's Corners, was ceremonially opened by the Minister of Public Works and Highways, Frank Campbell Biggs, on August 23, 1922.^[15] The Clappison Cut was completed and paved in 1924.^[14]

• Clappison Cut construction, 1920–1924
• 
• 
  A set of rails were installed to remove excavated earth and rock.
• 
• 
  Completed work

The St. George railway crossing prior to reconstruction in 1932

After reconstruction in 1932

Highway 5 and Highway 6 travelled concurrently from Highway 8 (Main Street) in downtown Hamilton to Clappison's Corners when route numbers were assigned in 1925.^[8] Highway 5 was 127.4 kilometres (79.2 mi) long at this time. This situation was short lived however, as Highway 5 was redirected west from Clappison's Corners to Peters Corners to meet Highway 8 on May 25, 1927. Highway 6, in turn, assumed the route of Highway 5 south to Jarvis.^[16] The route was extended further west in 1930, when the newly-renamed Department of Highways (DHO) assumed the road from Highway 8 at Peters Corners to Highway 24 west of St. George, as well as the Governor's Road between Highway 24 and Highway 2 at Paris. The 19.0-kilometre (11.8 mi) road between Highway 8 and Highway 24, through Beverley and South Dumfries was designated on June 18, while the 6.8-kilometre (4.2 mi) section of the Governor's Road, along the boundary between South Dumfries and Brantford Township, was designated several months later on September 24.^[17] These two segments were connected by a concurrency with Highway 24.^[18] This brought the length of the route to 114.3 kilometres (71.0 mi), including the approximately 16.1 kilometres (10.0 mi) of Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue between Jane Street and Sibley Avenue, within the Toronto city limits.^[19]

Paving and improvements

An early example of "zone striping" along Highway 5 near Clappison's Corners, which reduced head-on collisions by indicating ideal passing locations, with unobstructed sightlines, to drivers

When the Hamilton–Jarvis Highway and Dundas Street were assumed by the province, they were paved from Islington village west to Summerville (near Dixie Road), but were otherwise gravel throughout. The route was paved between Mount Hope and Hamilton, between Sixteen Mile Creek and Summerville, as well as along Bloor Street from Islington village to Jane Street in 1921. New bridges were also completed over Sixteen Mile Creek and Mimico Creek.^[6][9][10] In 1923, the remainder of the route between Sixteen Mile Creek and Hamilton, including the new Clappison Cut, was paved. This was followed the next year by the construction of a water-bound macadam surface between Jarvis and Caledonia, completing the hard-surfaced road between Jarvis and Hamilton.^[14] That year also saw the completion of a new high-level bridge along Bloor Street over the Humber River, bypassing the old route along Old Mill Road and Old Mill Drive. The bridge was opened ceremoniously by then Minister of Highways—and later premier—George Stewart Henry on November 21, 1924.^[20]

When the portion of Highway 5 west of Clappison's Corners was assumed in 1927, it was already paved as far west as the Brock Road, approximately 7 kilometres (4.3 mi).^[21] However, the DPHO paved the entire length between Peters Corners and Clappison's Corners in 1928.^[22] When the province assumed the remainder of the route to Paris, it began paving the highway west from Peters Corners. Paving was completed for 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to Troy in 1930 and 1931;^[23] another 10 km were completed from Troy to Highway 24 in 1932, including a railway underpass at St. George.^[24] The final 6.8 kilometres (4.2 mi) east from Paris to Highway 24 were paved in 1933.^[25]

New grade separation between Highway 5 (Danforth Avenue) and Highway 2 (Kingston Road) in Scarborough in 1938

Within Scarborough, the DHO began a project to widen Kingston Road to a dual highway in the mid 1930s, which would ultimately result in the construction of the first segment of Highway 401. This construction began at the intersection of Highway 2 and Highway 5 and proceeded northwest. At the intersection of the two highways, the DHO constructed a new grade-separation around the Scarborough Cenotaph beginning in 1936.^[26] the overpass, carrying eastbound traffic from Danforth Avenue onto eastbound Kingston Road, was completed in 1938, though landscaping continued into 1939.^[27][28] This junction remains in place today, almost unchanged since then.^[29]

As suburbanization of Toronto encroached on Toronto Township—which would become the town of Mississauga in 1968—the DHO began to widen Highway 5 to four lanes across Peel and Halton in the 1960s, beginning with the section between Highway 10 at Cooksville and Mississauga Road in 1961.^[30][31] In the late 1970s, construction began on Highway 403 through Mississauga. As part of this new freeway, an interchange with Highway 5 was built just east of Ninth Line, on the Oakville–Mississauga boundary. The interchange opened along with the segment of Highway 403 south to the Queen Elizabeth Way at Ford Drive in mid-1981; the freeway was extended north to Erin Mills Parkway on November 17th of that year.^[32][33]

Shift of responsibility

Following the creation of Metropolitan Toronto on April 15, 1953,^[34] the new municipality was given responsibility for most of the provincial highways that passed within its boundaries that were not already connecting links following streets urbanized prior to this time. The sections of Highway 5 through Etobicoke and Scarborough were accordingly redesignated as connecting links and their maintenance given over to the new Metro government on January 15, 1954.^[35] A 12.1-kilometre (7.5 mi) portion of Highway 5 from Etobicoke Creek west to Mississauga Road was made a connecting link though the recently-established Town of Mississauga on April 1, 1970.^[36] Another 2.8 kilometres (1.7 mi), between Winston Churchill Boulevard and Mississauga Road in Mississauga, was designated a connecting link on November 22, 1978. on November 27, 1991, a 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) segment of Dundas Street, from the interchange with Highway 403 east to Winston Churchill Boulevard, was made a connecting link through the municipal boundary area between Mississauga and Oakville, and maintenance was transferred to these municipalities. As the connecting links were technically still part of Highway 5, shields continued to be posted along it and marked on the Official Ontario Road Map through Mississauga and Metropolitan Toronto up until 1998 when the highway designation was dropped altogether ^[37]

As part of a series of budget cuts initiated by premier Mike Harris under his Common Sense Revolution platform in 1995, numerous highways deemed to no longer be of significance to the provincial network were downloaded to a lower level of government. As it generally served as a local arterial road through the growing suburbs of Oakville and Burlington, Highway 5 was downloaded from Highway 6 at Clappison's Corners to Highway 403, and transferred to the Regional Municipalities of Hamilton–Wentworth and Halton on January 1, 1998. On the same day, the portions of the route west of Peters Corners were transferred to Hamilton–Wentworth and the County of Brant. This removed 53.3 kilometres (33.1 mi) from the length of the highway, leaving only the portion between Peters Corners and Clappison's Corners in the provincial highway network.^[38]

Nonetheless the MTO continues to maintain short segments of Dundas Street (former Highway 5) at interchanges with provincial freeways, including a 400-metre (440 yd) portion at Highway 403, as well as a 1.9-kilometre (1.2 mi) portion at Highway 427.^[1]

Since 1998

In July 2001, a new interchange with Highway 407 ETR was opened, connecting the extension of the toll highway with former Highway 5 in Burlington.^[39]

An operational and safety review of the three intersections at Peters Corners near Hamilton was undertaken in February 2001. Studies, including an environmental assessment were conducted between 2004 and 2009, and settled upon a roundabout as the ideal replacement, with traffic signals at the two intersections with Westover Road (former Highway 52).^[40] Construction began in the spring of 2012,^[40] and the C$6.3 million roundabout was opened on September 25, 2012.^[41]