Conestoga Parkway
|
|
The Conestoga Parkway is a freeway in Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. It runs northeast/southwest through the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo, linking the cities via Highway 8 to the main east/west route, Highway 401. It is numbered in three sections: the westernmost portion from Baden to the Highway 8 interchange is multiplexed as Highway 7/8; the central section from 8 to the Victoria Street exit is Highway 7; and the northeast portion, into Waterloo through to St. Jacobs is Highway 85. Note that this is merely the expressway portion of the various numbered highways, all of which continue for some distance as open-access highways beyond the expressway section. Highway 85 had formerly been known as Highway 86.
An observation which may seem odd for those new to the highway is the stark difference in the congested, inefficient exit for Highway 7/Victoria Street, when compared with the high-capacity but underused Wellington Street exit just north of it. Both exits are served by a collector-express system. This is due to the 'foresight' that Highway 7 would be redirected as a controlled-access highway and attached to the current Wellington Street; these plans have languished for over 30 years and are still in the planning stages. Opposition has arose due to the new alignment of Highway 7 passing through environmentally sensative lands. The new Highway 7 freeway proposal linking up Kitchener and Guelph bypasses the existing Highway 7/Victoria Street and includes a complex 4-level interchange with the Conestoga Parkway and Wellington Street.
The Parkway is one of the busiest roads in the region. In 2004, extensive improvements were completed around the former obsolete and bottlenecked junction with the expressway section of Highway 8, that links it to the 401.
While it is officially known as the Conestoga Parkway, it is often referred to by locals as the Conestoga Expressway or just The Expressway.
The speed limit on the Conestoga Parkway is 90 km/h (55 mph), this is unusual for a provincially-maintained freeway in Ontario, however some sections are below the standards of 400-Series Highways.
See also
External links
- Highway 7 Images, including pictures of the Conestoga Parkway (http://www.onthighways.com/hwy_7_images/highway_7_(page2)_images.htm)