King's Highway 401 - Images
<- Page 8 Page 9 - Mississauga to North York Page 10 ->
Photos shown in this table are arranged from West to East:
| Proper Municipality Name | Photo Description | Photo | ||
|
Photos taken from driver's perspective appear offset from centre-line Photos: |
East- bound |
West- bound |
||
| Click here for Milton to Mississauga Images | ||||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
Two views of Highway 401 looking east from Kennedy Road (Mississauga) towards the 401/403/410 interchange. It is at this interchange that the 18+ lane, 4 carriageway Highway 401 narrows to a meagre, 6+ lane, two carriageway freeway. The top photo shows a more centralized view, whereas the lower photo shows the high-speed flyover to Highway 410 in greater detail. The high-speed flyover from the eastbound 401 to Highway 410 is without question the most substantial flyover in Ontario. Click here to jump to the view looking westerly from the Kennedy Road overpass.
Photos taken: June 24th, 2008. |
 |
||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
Signage for the core to collector transfer for the Dixie Road interchange. Photo taken: August 26th, 2009. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
|
Highway 410 leads north of Highway 401 into Brampton. Click here for Highway 410 images. Highway 403 leads south and west of Highway 401 to Hamilton, Brantford and eventually meets Highway 401 again in Woodstock. Click here for Highway 403 images. |
||||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
Signage for the Highway 403 exit along the
westbound express lanes. This is a very major interchange -- just over
half of all westbound traffic departs the 401 for either Highway 403 or
Highway 410. Photo taken: September 20th, 2009. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
Advanced signage in the express lanes denoting the Highway 403 interchange. Photo taken: September 20th, 2009. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
View of the 401/403/410 interchange as seen looking west from the Dixie Road overpass. The Highway 401/403/410/ interchange is 4-levels high and contains 7 high-speed flyover ramps. Geographically it is far and away the largest interchange in Canada. What's more, despite its already enormous size, this interchange is likely to get larger, as there are currently no ramps between the Toronto-bound 403 and Highway 401-West nor are there ramps between Highway 401-East and the Hamilton-bound 403. These ramps are scheduled to be constructed in the future, a stub ramp from the westbound 401 to the Hamilton-bound 403 is to be constructed as part of the collector lane extension to Hurontario Street.
Photos taken: May 3rd, 2009. |
(720x480) (1440x960) (2400x1600)
|
||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
Lane signage for
Highway 403 affixed to the Dixie Road overpass. The ramp to the 403
is located roughly 1km upstream of this sign. Photo taken: September 20th, 2009. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
Highway 401 looking east from Dixie Road. Dixie Road is located at
kilometre marker 346. These photos showcase the widest section of
highway in Ontario. At 18-through lanes this section of Highway 401
accommodates its large volumes of traffic very well. Upper photo taken: May 3rd, 2009. Lower photo taken: June 20th, 2010. |
|
||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
Two views along Highway 401 traveling eastbound through Mississauga at the
changeable message signs located in advance of the Airport basketweave. Often
times during periods of light traffic changeable message signs located in
advance of a major intersection double as a pre-advanced sign for the
interchange -- as is the case on both of the pictured signs to the right. Upper (Express Lanes) photo taken: August 26th, 2009. Lower (Collector Lanes) photo taken: March 19th, 2011. |
|
||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
Overhead signs located atop both the express and
collector lanes in advance of the Airport Transfer. Beyond this transfer the
collector lanes become nothing more than long ramps to Highway 427 and Renforth Drive. All Eastbound Highway 401 traffic is directed into the
Express Lanes. There is a gap in the collector lanes between Highway
427 and Highway 409. Upper (Express Lanes) photo taken: May 19th, 2009 Lower (Collector Lanes) photo taken: August 26th, 2009. |
|
||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
Exit signage for the Highway 427/Renforth
Drive exit. This transfer is a basketweave as the ramp to Highway 427 and Renforth
Drive passes under the ramp from the eastbound collector lanes to express
lanes. Beyond this transfer all through traffic must utilize the
Express lanes. Upper (Express Lanes) photo taken: August 26th, 2009. Lower (Collector Lanes) photo taken: March 19th, 2011. |
|
||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
Looking westerly along Highway 401 from roughly halfway between the Dixie
Road and Renforth Drive interchanges, south of Pearson Airport. Photo taken: September 26th, 2006. |
 |
||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
One of the last remaining M-C Freeway signs along the 401 in the whole of
Ontario can be found in Mississauga. Macdonald-Cartier Freeway signs have
been phased out since the early 1990s. Until about 2007/08 numerous signs
existed in eastern Ontario, however with the
designation of the 401 as the Highway of Hero's between Toronto and Trenton
in 2007, M-C signs quickly disappeared. Photo taken: September 20th, 2009. |
 |
||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
This diagram sign is located well in advance of the 403 interchange; notice
that the distance to the interchange is not shown on the signage. There are
a few diagram signs strewn across the province that don't list distances on
the signage. In fact, near Ottawa, along
Highway 416, there are several advanced exit signs that fail to list how far
the signs are from the ramp. Photo taken: September 20th, 2009. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
Signage for the transfer to Dixie Road and
Highway 410. Photo taken: June 10th, 2006. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
Advanced signage for the westbound transfer to
the collectors south of the Airport.
Highway 410 bound traffic must use the collectors beyond this point as
Highway 410 is not directly accessible from
the express lanes. Photo taken: September 20th, 2009. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
Looking west from the Renforth Drive overpass. The complex freeway
ends at this point, as the collector lanes split and head to and from the
427. Highway 401 has 8-through lanes through the Highway 427
interchange. About 5km east of Renforth Drive, the Toronto
express-collector lanes setup
beings Photo taken: May 3rd, 2009. |
 (720x480) (1440x960) (2400x1600) |
||
| City of Mississauga Regional Municipality of Peel |
View looking easterly towards the Highway 427
interchange from the Renforth Drive interchange. Highway 427 runs
parallel parallel to Highway 401 for a short distance, complicating the
interchange between the two freeways. Photos taken: August 26th, 2009. |
|
||
| Highway 427 is a commuter highway running through the west end of Etobicoke. Click here for Highway 427 images. | ||||
| City of Toronto | Looking easterly along Highway 401 from the
Carlingview Drive overpass. The high-speed ramp from Highway 401
westbound to the southbound 427 runs through the top of this photo. Photo taken: August 13th, 2006. |
 |
||
| City of Toronto | Two views looking easterly from the high-speed
flyover ramp from Highway 401 West to Highway 427 South. The three
lane entrance ramp entering the eastbound (right-hand) lanes of Highway 401
carries traffic from the northbound 427. Photos taken: July 30th, 2011. |
 |
||
| City of Toronto | The westbound signage at the ramp to Carlingview
Drive is coupled with an advanced sign for the core to collector transfer in
advance of the Dixie Road and Highway 410 interchanges. Photo taken: June 5th, 2011. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) (2400x1600) |
||
| City of Toronto | Signage approaching the westbound ramp to the
southbound 427. This high-speed ramp
is arguably Ontario's most impressive freeway flyover; the ramp was narrowed
to two lanes during June of 2011. Photo taken: June 5th, 2011. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) (2400x1600) |
||
| City of Toronto |
Advanced signage for the Highway 427
interchange. There is no direct connection between the westbound 401
and Highway 427 north. Westbound
traffic must utilize the
409 to access the northbound
427. Photo taken: September 20th, 2009. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Toronto |
Overhead changeable message sign in advance of the Highway 427 interchange. Photo taken: June 5th, 2011. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) (2400x1600) |
||
| City of Toronto |
Two views looking west upon the 401 from Kipling Avenue in Etobicoke. Highway 401 is 10 lanes from Kipling Avenue to the Highway 427 interchange. The second view shows Highway 401 the morning after a large snow storm. Snow is common in this part of Southern Ontario annually from about December through to early March. Ontario's Ministry of Transportation contracts snow removal (among other highway maintenance tasks) to area maintenance contractors (AMC's) who work under contract to meet minimum standards for highway maintenance.
Upper photo taken: August 26th, 2009.
Lower photo taken: January 6th, 2009. |
|
||
| City of Toronto |
Highway 401 looking east from the Kipling Avenue overpass in Etobicoke. Highway 401 divides into a complex freeway beyond the Kipling Avenue overpass, maintaining a minimum cross-section of 12 lanes across four carriageways east from this point for over 40km to Brock Road in the City of Pickering
Upper photo taken: August 26th, 2009.
Lower photo taken: January 6th, 2009. |
 (720x480) (1440x960) (2400x1600)
|
||
| City of Toronto |
View looking westerly from the Highway 409 overpass towards the Kipling
Avenue
overpass. The Kipling Avenue overpass looks as if it was designed to
be wide
enough to allow dual six-lane carriageways through the span. An
additional westbound lane is proposed through Kipling Avenue to increase
lane capacity in the westbound collector lanes between Highway`s 400 and
409. Photo taken: September 20th, 2009. |
|||
| Highway 409 is a short highway connecting Highway 401 East to Highway 427 North and Pearson International Airport. Click here for Highway 409 images. | ||||
| City of Toronto |
Two views looking westerly from the Islington Avenue overpass in Etobicoke.
West of Islington Avenue, Highway 401's collector/express setup ends and the
highway narrows to a ten lane cross-section. At the time that these
photos were taken a contract to rehabilitate the eastbound express lanes was
underway. This contract saw the eastbound express lanes widened from
three to four lanes between Highway 409 and Highway 400. Since these
photos were taken, this contract has been completed, and as of 2011,
additional contracts to rehabilitate the eastbound collectors, and westbound
express lanes have been completed. Between 2010 and 2013, work is
ongoing to widen and rehabilitate the westbound collector lanes through this
area. Photos taken: June 24th, 2004. |
 |
||
| City of Toronto |
View looking easterly along Highway 401 from the Islington Avenue overpass.
Notice the braded ramps on the left side of the photo (the westbound lanes),
which links the westbound 401 to Highway 409
and Islington Avenue. Photo taken: June 24th, 2004. |
 |
||
| City of Toronto |
Westerly view from the Weston Road overpass towards the overhead signage
announcing the ramp to Highway 409 from the westbound Express lanes. Photo taken: January 6th, 2009. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Toronto |
Highway 401 looking west from the Weston Road overpass in the west end of Toronto. The construction that can be seen in between the Eastbound express and collector lanes included the widening of the EB express lanes by an additional lane from the 409 to 400. This construction contract has now finished. Photo taken: June 24th, 2004. |
|
||
| City of Toronto |
Two views looking westerly from the Weston Road overpass. Highway 401 passes over a CP Railway overpass between the Weston Road and Highway 400 interchanges. Notice the extra lane that was added to the westbound express lanes during a 2005-2006 construction project.
Upper photo taken: June 24th, 2004.
Lower photo taken: January 6th, 2009. |
|
||
| City of Toronto |
Overhead changeable message sign along the westbound express lanes of
Highway 401 in advance to the express lane ramp to Highway 409. Photo taken: June 5th, 2011. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) (2400x1600) |
||
| City of Toronto |
Advanced overhead signage for the ramp to Highway 400 from the Express
lanes. In this case, their is no distinction from the advanced signage
to the exit signage. Furthermore, their is no distinction that this is
not a core to collector transfer lane, but is instead a dedicated off-ramp. Photo taken: December 23rd, 2007. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Toronto |
Overhead signage for the eastbound express exit to Highway 400. This
is the only ramp to or from Highway 400 from the express lanes of the 401.
this is a little bit surprising given how many direct ramps there are to and from
the express lanes for other Toronto freeways, such as Allen Road and the
404/DVP. Photo taken: December 23rd, 2007. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Toronto |
This view is looking east in the Express lanes from just east of the Highway
400 off-ramp. The Highway 400 interchange is quite substantial,
particularly given its vintage. Photo taken: December 23rd, 2007. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Toronto |
View looking westerly from the Highway 400 southbound ramp over Highway 401.
The 401 rises quickly from underneath of the Highway 400 interchange to go
overtop of CP's MacTier Subdivision. This quick hill directly west of
the 400 is the cause of much congestion in the westbound collector lanes, as
the ramp from Highway 400 south deposits a considerable amount of slow
moving truck traffic into the right lane at the bottom of the pictured hill. Photo taken: November 25th, 2007. |
 |
||
| City of Toronto |
View looking east from the southbound Highway 400 structure over the 401
towards the northbound structure. Notice the new jersey barriers
instead of the stylish 'double rail' barrier on the high-level flyover
between Highway 400 South and Highway 401 East. Photo taken: November 25th, 2007. |
 |
||
| Highway 400 is Southern Ontario's major north-south freeway. It leads north from Toronto extending to Parry Sound. Click here for Highway 400 images. | ||||
| City of Toronto |
View looking easterly along Highway 401 from the Highway 400 interchange.
This photo was taken shortly after the westbound express lanes were
rehabilitated and widened. An extra westbound lane was added to the
westbound express lanes through the Highway 400 interchange in 2007. Photo taken: November 25th, 2007. |
 |
||
| City of Toronto |
Signage in the westbound collector lanes for the ramp to Highway 400-North
and Black Creek Drive. Unlike the eastbound off-ramp, Highway 400 is
only accessible from the collector lanes. The Basketweave was
constructed as close to the Highway 400 interchange as it is to facilitate
movements between the Express lanes and Highway 400. With today's
knowledge of traffic operations, and today's traffic volumes, direct ramps to and from the express lanes
would've prooved to be a preferable a design to the basketweave. Photo taken: March 6th, 2010. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Toronto |
A morning rush hour view of Highway 401 looking west from westbound lanes of
the Basketweave. Notice the three-level Highway 400 interchange in the
background of this photo. The westbound express lanes through the
Highway 400 interchange were being reconstructed at the time this photo was
taken. Photo taken: July 30th, 2005. |
 |
||
| City of Toronto |
Looking west from the Keele Street overpass. Just out of view in this
photo are both the basket weave and the Highway 400 interchange.
Keele Street is located at kilometre marker 362. Photo taken: May 25th, 2005. |
 |
||
| City of Toronto |
Looking east from the Keele Street overpass along Highway 401. The
stretch of Highway 401 between the basketweave and the Allen Road was
widened from 12 to 14 lanes over a series of contracts during the early
2000s. Photo taken: May 25th, 2005. |
 |
||
| City of Toronto | View looking westerly towards the Allen Road
interchange along Highway 401. The interchange between Highway 401 and
Allen Road (which at that point was known as the Spandina Expressway) was
the first 3-level freeway to freeway interchange completed in Ontario.
The interchange was completed in 1965. Photo taken: August 25th, 2006. |
 |
||
| City of Toronto | Looking easterly towards Bathurst Street along
Highway 401. Notice the braided ramp that carries both the express and
collector westbound ramps to the Allen Road interchange. There are
several direct ramp connections between Allen Road and the express lanes. Photo taken: August 12th, 2006. |
 |
||
| City of Toronto |
Signage along the westbound express for the exit to Allen Road and Yorkdale
Road from the westbound express lanes along the 401. Notice that no
special signage treatment indicating that this ramp does not lead to the
collector lanes, instead leading directly to Allen Road. Photo taken: July 23rd, 2006. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Toronto | Advanced signage for the westbound ramp to Allen
and Yorkdale Roads. Until quite recently, only Allen Road was
indicated on this signage, neglecting the ramp to Yorkdale Road (and
therefore, the popular Yorkdale Mall). It is common for the MTO to
omit the names of minor service roads on freeway signage. Photo taken: July 23rd, 2006. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Toronto |
Westbound diagram sign in the collector lanes informing traffic of the next
two exits along the collector lanes. It is unusual for an exit ramp to
depart from the left side of the collector lanes, so extra signage was
installed to inform drivers that the ramp to the left is in fact an exit,
and not a transfer to the express lanes. Photo taken: March 6th, 2010. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Toronto |
Eastbound changeable message sign along the collector lanes of Highway 401
in advance of the Avenue Road interchange. Photo taken: July 21st, 2011. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Toronto |
View looking easterly in the collector lanes at what has quickly become one
of the last Highway 11A shields along the 401. Rounded truss gantries
supporting signage still featuring now defunct highway numbers (as pictured)
are quickly finding their way to the scrap piles. Photo taken: May 19th, 2009. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Toronto |
Two photo that show Highway 401 as seen from the west side of the Avenue Road overpass in Toronto. The westbound express lanes were being resurfaced at the time that these photos were taken.
Photos taken: July 13th, 2011. |
(720x480) (1440x960) (2400x1600)
|
||
| Highway 11A was downloaded in 1997, but served as a useful alternate to Highway 11 into Downtown. Click here for Highway 11A images. | ||||
| City of Toronto |
A few photos showing Highway 401 looking east from the Avenue Road (Highway 11A) overpass in North York. The section of freeway surrounding the Avenue Road interchange has the distinction of being the first section of the Toronto By-pass to have been reconstructed as a twelve lane freeway. The 1965 Department of Highways annual report reports that approximately one-mile of new four-carriageway twelve-lane highway was completed by the fall of 1964. While the lane configuration of Highway 401 has changed very little since 1964, the view looking easterly from the Avenue Road structure has. During the 1960s, the Yonge Street corridor (which is starkly visible in today's photos) had none of the high-rise development that can be seen today. It wasn't until 1974 that the Yonge Subway line breached the 401 and was completed to Finch Station, bringing the pictured high-rise development along with it.
Lower two photos taken: March 16th, 2011. |
 (720x480) (1440x960) (2400x1600)
(720x480) (1440x960) (2400x1600)
|
||
| City of Toronto |
View looking westerly from the west end of the Hoggs Hollow bridge towards
the Avenue Road interchange. This small stretch of Highway 401 was very
noteworthy, since it was the last section of Highway 401 to still have
vintage guiderail and lighting across the entire width of the highway. Photo taken: May 26th, 2007. |
 |
||
| City of Toronto |
This view looks easterly into the early morning sun across the Hogg's Hollow
Bridges. 4-high level bridges carry Highway 401 overtop of this large
valley. When this photo was taken, the structure carrying the
eastbound collector lanes was being rehabilitated. During construction,
both eastbound collector and express lanes are using the express lane
structure. Photo taken: May 26th, 2007. |
 |
||
| City of Toronto |
Advanced signage for the eastbound off-ramp to Yonge Street. Photo taken: July 2nd, 2010. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| City of Toronto |
Overhead signage for the Yonge Street exit. The 401 does not meet
Yonge Street at a standard parclo-interchange; a semi-directional ramp
carries traffic from Highway 401 east directly to northbound Yonge Street in
North York. Photo taken: July 2nd, 2010. |
 (720x480)(1440x960) |
||
| Before Highway 11 was truncated north of Barrie in 1997, Highway 11 followed Yonge Street through Toronto. Click here for Highway 11 images. | ||||
| Click here for North York to Scarborough Images | ||||
<- Page 8 Images Highway 401 Images Index Page 10 Images ->
<- Highway 400 Images Back to Highway 401 Highway 402 Images ->
Copyright (c) 2004-2012, Scott Steeves (Webmaster) scott@asphaltplanet.ca
(720x480)
(720x480)
