Ontario Highway 115

King's Highway 115, commonly referred to as Highway 115 is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that connects Peterborough with Toronto via Highway 401. The highway begins at a junction with Highway 401 southwest of Newcastle and ends at an at-grade intersection with Highway 7 east of Peterborough.

Highway 115
Highway 115 highlighted in red
Route information
Length	57.6 km[1] (35.8 mi)
Existed	March 17, 1955[2]–present
Major junctions
South end	Highway 401 near Newcastle
	Highway 407 in Clarington  Highway 35 near Pontypool Highway 7A near Cavan
North end	Highway 7 in Peterborough
Highway system
Ontario provincial highways List 400-series Former ← Highway 112 → Highway 118 Former provincial highways ←  Highway 114   Highway 116  →

Highway 115/35, looking north from Durham Region Highway 2 bridge

Highway 115 is part of the Algonquin Trail and concurrent with Highway 35 from its southern terminus in Clarington to Enterprise Hill, where it veers towards Peterborough and Highway 35 continues north into the Kawarthas. It is also part of the Trans-Canada Highway from the interchange with Highway 7 south of Springville, Ontario to the northern terminus of the highway. Highway 115 is a freeway northeast of Enterprise Hill and a Right-in/right-out (RIRO) expressway south of it, featuring short ramps with abrupt right turns to and from the highway. By January 2010, exit numbers were added to the freeway section north of the Highway 35 concurrency.

Route description

Facing southwest along Highway 115; in the distance the median narrows and the route merges with Highway 35

Highway 115 begins at a trumpet interchange with Highway 401, and is concurrent with Highway 35 for 18.9 km (11.7 mi) to Enterprise Hill.[3][4][5] For the length of this concurrency, it is a divided four lane RIRO expressway. Here, Highway 35/115 meets the eastern terminus of Highway 407 at a modified trumpet interchange in Clarington, and at Enterprise Hill, the expressway curves eastward and Highway 35 exits, continuing north towards Lindsay. Highway 115 continues northeast, and the two carriageways diverge, making it a freeway. A depressed grass median, generally 10 metres (33 ft) wide, separates the opposing directions of travel between this point and Peterborough.

Most of the remainder of the highway is straight and surrounded by agricultural lands and forests, until it meets Highway 7. From this point northeastward, Highway 115 is part of the southern Ontario route of the Trans-Canada Highway and concurrent with Highway 7.[3] The freeway continues along the southern edge of Peterborough and ends at Lansdowne Street to the east of the city. Highway 7 continues east towards Ottawa.

History

Highway 115 was a new highway constructed in the mid-1950s and gradually improved over the following 40 years. Initially, the route was constructed as a two lane connection from Highway 35 near Pontypool to Highway 28 on the outskirts of Peterborough. Because of this, it was known as the Pontypool–Peterborough Road. It was eventually extended to Highway 7 on the east side of Peterborough and later widened to a four-lane expressway in the late 1980s. Since then, improvements have been proposed to extend Highway 115 east to Highway 28, but none have come to fruition.

In 1953, construction began on a two lane road northeastward from Highway 35 south of Pontypool, with the purpose of creating a shorter route between Toronto and Peterborough.[6][7] The Pontypool–Peterborough Road, as it was referred to during construction, was completed and designated as Highway 115 on March 17, 1955,[2][8] ending at an intersection with Highway 28 which became notoriously dangerous.[6]

In 1961, Highway 115 was extended southward to the 401, becoming concurrent with Highway 35. That same year, the new Peterborough By-pass opened, providing a route for Highway 7 around the south side of the city via Monaghan Parkway.[9] Highway 115 was later extended east to connect with the bypass, and the northern terminus became the intersection of Erskine Avenue and Lansdowne Street (the former Highway 7A). The 6.2 kilometres (3.9 mi) extension was opened at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on August 25, 1978.[10]

The entire length of the highway south of Highway 7 was widened to four lanes in the 1980s and early 1990s.[11] Later, Highway 115 was rerouted to join Highway 7 on the newly four-laned Peterborough By-pass route. Although Highway 115 currently meets many Ontario freeway design standards northeast of the Highway 35 interchange, there are currently no plans to re-designate this section as a 400-series highway (like Highway 415 or a non-tolled section of Highway 407). Consequentially, the codesignation with the Highway 35 RIRO expressway could also be dropped, thus finally eliminating the designation of "Highway 115" entirely.

Exit list

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 115, as noted by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.[1] 

Division	Location	km[1]	mi	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Durham	Newcastle	0.0	0.0		Highway 401 – Toronto, Kingston	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; southern end of Highway 35 concurrency
					Lovekin Road
		1.3	0.81		Regional Highway 2 – Newcastle, Bowmanville	Formerly  Highway 2
		4.2	2.6		Regional Road 17 (Main Street) Clarke 3rd Concession – Newcastle
	Clarington	6.2	3.9		Clarke 4th Concession
	Orono	8.1	5.0		Regional Road 17 (Main Street) – Orono
		8.6	5.3		Station Street	No access across Highway 115
		10.2	6.3		Mill Street / Tamblyn Road – Orono	Southbound exit and entrance to Mill Street; northbound exit and entrance to Tamblyn Road
		9.9	6.2		Regional Road 4 (Taunton Road) Clarke 6th Concession
	Clarington	13.4	8.3		Regional Road 9 (Clarke 7th Concession) – Bewdley
				14	Highway 407 – Toronto	Opened on December 9, 2019.[12][13]
					Clarke 8th Concession
					Clarke 9th Concession	Southbound exit and entrance
					Wilcox Road	Northbound exit and entrance
		18.9	11.7	19	Highway 35 north – Lindsay	Northern end of Highway 35 concurrency; exit numbers begin here
		21.4	13.3	21	Municipal Road 20 (Boundary Road)
Kawartha Lakes
		26.4	16.4	26	Municipal Road 32 (Porter Road) – Bethany, Pontypool
Peterborough	Cavan–Monaghan	33.5	20.8	33	Tapley 1/4 Line
		38.0	23.6	38	County Road 10 – Millbrook, Cavan
		40.4	25.1	40	Highway 7A west (Cavan 9th Line) – Port Perry
		45.1	28.0	45A/B	Highway 7 west – Lindsay County Road 28 – Port Hope	The Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 7 are concurrent with Highway 115 northeast of Exit 45A/B
		49.1	30.5	49	County Road 11 (Airport Road)
	City of Peterborough	51.5	32.0	51	The Parkway, Sir Sandford Fleming Drive
		54.5	33.9	54	Bensfort Road	No northeastbound entrance
		56.3	35.0	56	Ashburnham Drive
		57.6	35.8		Highway 7 east (Lansdowne Street) – Ottawa / Television Road north	at-grade; end at Highway 7
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Tolled

References

Sources

1. Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (2016). "Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) counts". Retrieved January 1, 2021.
2. Ontario Department of Highways (March 31, 1955). "Appendix No. 3C - Schedule of Plans Designating the King's Highways". Annual Report for the Fiscal Year (Report). p. 164.
3. Southcentral Ontario (Map). MapArt. 2010. ISBN 978-1-55368-221-9.
4. Queen's Printer for Ontario (1990). Ontario Official Road Map (Map). Government of Ontario.
5. Perly's (2007). Toronto & area map book (Map). Rand McNally. p. Page 4. ISBN 978-0-88640-928-9.
6. Miller pp. 97–98
7. Canadian Press (March 1, 1955). ""Dishonest Practices" Hid Real Highway Work—Frost". 112 (213). The Ottawa Citizen. p. 21. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
8. Province of Ontario (Map). Cartography by Ontario Department of Lands and Forests. Department of Highways. 1955. § R–S35.
9. Ontario Department of Highways (March 31, 1964). Annual Report for the Fiscal Year (Report). p. 99.
10. "Official Opening of Highway 115 New (Peterborough Bypass)" (Press release). Ministry of Transportation and Communications. August 25, 1978.
11. Fulton, Ed (August 16, 1987). "Transport minister promises 4-lane Highway 115 by 1992" (213). The Toronto Star. p. C.28. Retrieved May 20, 2010. |section= ignored (help)
12. "407 East EA- Mainline Part 2" (PDF). 407 east ea. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
13. "Final extension of Highway 407 now open to motorists". CTV News. Retrieved 2019-12-10.

Bibliography

• Miller, Ray Y C (2005). "History of Highways in the Area". From Coal Oil Lights to Satellites. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 1-4120-4894-X. Retrieved June 25, 2010.