Highbury Avenue

Wenige Expressway

Formerly Highway 126

Route information

Maintained by City of London

Length:

5.0 km (3.1 mi)

History:

Opened December 9, 1963
(as a two-lane expressway)

Widened in 1966
(to a four-lane, grade-separated expressway)

Major junctions

North end:

Hamilton Road

South end:

Wilton Grove Road

Location

Major cities:

London

Highway system

Roads in Ontario

Ontario municipal expressways (in alphabetical order)
← Harbour Expressway	Highbury Avenue	Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway →

Wenige Expressway

Opened December 9, 1963
(as a two-lane expressway)

Roads in Ontario

Highbury Avenue is an arterial road/expressway located in London and St. Thomas, Ontario. The speed limit, on the expressway portion is 100 km/h.

For the citizens who live and work in both cities, Highbury Avenue is considered an essential commuter route between both cities and also to Highway 401 and Highway 402.

Highbury Avenue begins at South Edgeware Road in St. Thomas where it proceeds north as a two-lane highway (Elgin County Road 30) until Wilton Grove Road in London. From there it briefly becomes a four-lane, 4.5 km (2.8 mi) expressway north from Highway 401 to Hamilton Road. It then continues north as a four-lane arterial street through the rest of London.

At approximately Fanshawe Park Road, Highbury Avenue continues north from London as a two-lane highway (Middlesex County Road 23), where it ends at Elginfield Road (Highway 7).

The expressway portion was completed as such in 1966 after nearly three years as a two-lane road from the 401 northward. This road was originally planned to be completed as part of a network of expressways to serve London along the Thames River. However, local opposition led to this expressway portion of Highbury ending at Hamilton Road.. The road was given provincial highway status as Highway 126 on December 9, 1963. For a time the expressway portion of the road inside city limits of the time was unofficially named "George Wenige Expressway" after a former mayor of London, George Wenige. There were also plans to extend the expressway south to St. Thomas, but these plans were shelved.

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Wikipedia