Ontario provincial highway 427
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Highway 427 is a 400-Series Highway in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada, that runs from immediately south of the Queen Elizabeth Way/Gardiner Expressway interchange (its exact southern terminus is on the Brown's Line at Coules Court, just south of Evans Avenue) in Toronto to Highway 7 in Vaughan. It is 21.3 km in length. It was inaugurated in 1972, but it had been previously known as Highway 27 between the QEW and Highway 401 (the initial 401 and Highway 27 was the "Toronto Bypass" in the 1950s), and as the "Airport Expressway" between the 401 and Pearson International Airport since the construction of the former Terminal 1 in the 1960s.
The 427 is Ontario's second busiest freeway by volume, and has no fewer than 12 lanes between the QEW/Gardiner and the 401, divided into an express lane/collector lane configuration similar to that of Highway 401, replacing "service roads" in the 1970s. It is a primary feeder route into Toronto Pearson International Airport. Much of the traffic coming from Highway 407, Highway 401 (eastbound), and the QEW/Gardiner uses the 427 for airport access, but it also serves the western portion of Etobicoke and the northeastern portion of Mississauga. It is also used as a bypass of the QEW for traffic originating from downtown Toronto headed towards the western suburbs, via Highway 401's collector lanes that provide a direct link between Highway 427 and Highway 403. Eastbound commuters on the QEW who want to bypass downtown Toronto use Highway 427 to reach Highway 401.
Interestingly, there is now no direct access from Highway 401 westbound to Highway 427 northbound; that link is provided by Highway 409 instead. The complicated 401-427 interchange also includes high-speed ramps between from Eglinton Avenue westbound to Highway 401 westbound, Highway 427, and Highway 27; those freeway-to-freeway connectors (which seem excessive for an arterial road like Eglinton Avenue) were meant for the never-built Richview Expressway which was proposed to run eastward from that interchange, parallel to Eglinton.
Unlike the 401, which has a collector-express system that increases the capacity of the freeway overall, 427's collector-express system merely separates two streams of traffic. The express lanes connect the QEW/Gardiner with 401 and exclusively lead to freeway-to-freeway ramps, while the collector lanes (which replaced pre-1970s service roads) link up Highway 27 with Browns Line and has interchanges with local traffic. There are transfers between express and collector lanes, however QEW/Gardiner to 401/Airport traffic has grown far heavier, making the express lanes congested while the collectors are underused. A good example of this jam occurs on 427 southbound at the collector-to-express transfer near Bloor Street, where the majority of commuters need to get to the express lanes in order to reach the QEW/Gardiner. There is little utility for the collectors south of that transfer since only a minority of commuters are headed for local traffic (The Queensway, Evans Avenue, Browns Line). Recent 427-QEW interchange improvements in 2001-2002 allowed collector lane traffic to access Gardiner/QEW eastbound.
There is talk of expanding this route further north from Vaughan, to at least Highway 89, and possibly as far north as Barrie, as an bypass of the existing Highway 400 whose traffic levels are expected to outstrip expansion capacity in the next 20 years. No firm plans for the 427 an extension have been put forward yet.
| Contents |
Lane Configurations from South to North
| Section | Travel Lanes |
|---|---|
| Evans Avenue to Queen Elizabeth Way/Gardiner Expressway | 2 Lanes per Direction |
| Queen Elizabeth Way/Gardiner Expressway to Dundas Street | 7 Lanes per Direction (4 express, 3 local) |
| Dundas Street to Highway 401 | 6 Lanes per Direction (3 express, 3 local) |
| Highway 401 to Dixon Road/Airport Road/Pearson International Airport | 5 Lanes per Direction |
| Dixon Road/Airport Road/Pearson International Airport to Rexdale Boulevard/Derry Road | 3 Lanes per Direction |
| Rexdale Boulevard/Derry Road to Finch Avenue | 3 Lanes Southbound, 2 Lanes Northbound |
| Finch Avenue to Highway 407 | 2 Lanes per Direction |
| Highway 407 to Highway 7 (York Road 7) | 2 Lanes Southbound, 3 Lanes Northbound |
Interchanges from South to North
| Municipality | Kilometre Post* | Intersecting Roads |
|---|---|---|
| Toronto | 0 | Queen Elizabeth Way/Gardiner Expressway |
| Toronto | 1 | The Queensway |
| Toronto | 2 | Dundas Street |
| Toronto | 4 | Burnhamthorpe Road |
| Toronto | 5 | Rathburn Road |
| Toronto | 7 | Eglinton Avenue/Highway 27/Highway 401 |
| Toronto - Mississauga Boundary | 12 | Dixon Road/Airport Road/Pearson International Airport |
| Toronto - Mississauga Boundary | 13 | Highway 409 |
| Toronto - Mississauga Boundary | 16 | Rexdale Boulevard/Derry Road |
| Toronto - Mississauga Boundary | 18 | Finch Avenue |
| Vaughan | 20 | Highway 407 |
| Vaughan | 22 | Highway 7 (York Road 7) |
- No exit numbers are posted on Highway 427, although they may be when the highway is extended.
Proposed Interchanges from South to North (exit numbers assumed)
| Municipality | Kilometre Post* | Intersecting Roads |
|---|---|---|
| Vaughan | 24 | Langstaff Road (York Road 72) |
| Vaughan | 26 | Rutherford Road (York Road 73) |
| Vaughan | 28 | Major Mackenzie Drive (York Road 25) |
| Vaughan | 33 | Kirby Sideroad |
| King | 37 | King Road (York Road 11) |
| King | 43 | 17th Sideroad |
| King - New Tecumseth Boundary | 50 | Highway 9 |
| New Tecumseth | 56 | New Tecumseth 5th Line |
| New Tecumseth | 60 | New Tecumseth 8th Line (Simcoe County Road 1) |
| New Tecumseth | 63 | Bradford Bypass (proposed freeway) |
Reference
- History of Ontario's Kings Highways - Hwy 427 (http://www.thekingshighway.ca/Hwy427.htm)Template:ONT 400 Hwys