thekingshighway.ca, the site MolsonExport has sourced for photos, also contains a wealth of historical information on Ontario's highways. It's not an official MTO site, but the hobby of an MTO employee who seems pretty meticulous about his research.
A few summary points from that site:
Highway 401 was built to create an alternative to the slow and congested Highway 2. The first section opened in 1947 through Scarborough Township to Oshawa, designated as
Highway 2A.
It appears that the 400-series numbering began in 1952 after
Highway 400 opened; 2A was renumbered as the 401, and the short stretch of highway in Sarnia leading to the bridge was called the
402. It is interesting that what became the 401 was built first but numbered second in sequence - I wonder if that was a conscious decision or just a product of the planning of the day (perhaps the idea began for the 400 and they simply decided to add other controlled-access highways in series starting with those 3?)
Highway 2 between Toronto and Burlington was always Lakeshore Rd. The
Queen Elizabeth Way was built between Lakeshore Rd. and Dundas St. (Highway 5) along what used to be called the Middle Road. It was completed between Hamilton and Toronto in 1937 and then extended to Niagara Falls, but wasn't given the name QEW until 1939.
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Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere
Pre-expressway, the QEW (lakeshore road) was signed highway 1 and the 401 was signed highway 2, so they tend to be the most important corridors in the province.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vid
The QEW through Halton, Peel and Toronto was Highway 2 until the 1950s, and part of the 401 was Highway 2A. Highway 401 was given its number because it was the second freeway to open after Highway 400.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere
400 series were initially numbered based on when they opened, but even then there are exceptions. 400 was built after the 401 for example. After a while they started numbering them based on the highway they replaced. (416, 417, 427)
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