Ontario Highway 4

The Highway 4 / Talbot Street junction in St. Thomas

Highway 4 starts at an intersection with Highway 3 in Talbotville Royal and continues north as a two-lane undivided highway. For most of its length, the highway bisects agricultural land. It travels along a short 2.7-kilometre (1.7 mi) concurrency with Highway 401 from the community of Tempo to Wonderland Road. It encounters an interchange with Highway 402 before entering London city limits. As Highway 4 enters London, it becomes a Connecting Link, known locally as Wonderland Road. Wonderland Road is a 4-lane arterial thoroughfare serving western London, with several big-box stores, a mall, and residential areas. The route turns east onto Sunningdale Road West, which it for a short distance before turning north along Richmond Street.[3][4][5]

Highway 4 continues north, passing through Arva, when the surrounding terrain returns to farmland. Highway 4 passes through Birr before intersecting with the western terminus of Highway 7 at Elginfield, which is also 1 km east of the Highway 23 junction with Highway 7. The highway then curves slightly west, passing through Lucan before continuing north at Clandeboye. From here to its terminus in Clinton, Highway 4 is essentially straight for 45 kilometres (28 mi). Continuing to be flanked by farmland, it then passes through the communities of Huron Park and Exeter. At Exeter, it crosses the former route of Highway 83. From there, it continues north, passing through the communities of Hensall, Ontario and Vanastra, Ontario before terminating at Highway 8 in the community of Clinton.[3][4][5]

Highway 4 north of St. Thomas in 1948

Highway 4 was originally designated in 1920 when the provincial government assumed the road running from Talbotville Royal (St. Thomas) to the Northern Highway (later Highway 7) at Elginfield, via London. The portions within Elgin County were assumed on August 4, while the portions south of London were assumed on June 24. The portions north of and through London were assumed on August 6.[2] The 51.2-kilometre (31.8 mi) route featured a concurrency with the Provincial Highway (later Highway 2) between Lambeth and downtown London.[6][7]

Until the summer of 1925, Ontario highways were named rather than numbered. When route numbering was introduced, the route between St. Thomas and Elginfield became Provincial Highway 4.[8] 1927 saw several new sections of road assumed that would become portion of Highway 4. On September 14, the route was extended to Highway 8 at Clinton. Further north, a new highway was created on June 22, 1927, between Highway 9 at Walkerton and Highway 6 at Durham. This latter section was designated as Highway 4A.[9]

On March 12, 1930, Highway 4 was extended to Durham, fully absorbing the route of Highway 4A in the process. Two months later, on May 11, it was extended south to Bedford Street (now Edith Cavell Boulevard) in Port Stanley.[10] On April 11, 1934, the highway was extended east to the intersection of Highway 10 in Flesherton.[11] Highway 4 reached its maximum length of 275.6 kilometres (171.2 mi) when it was extended from Flesherton to Highway 24 in Singhampton in the mid-1970s.[12][13][14]

Downloads

Former alignment of Highway 4 looking north towards Lambeth from the Highway 402 interchange in London

As part of a series of budget cuts initiated by premier Mike Harris under his Common Sense Revolution platform in 1995, numerous highways deemed to no longer be of significance to the provincial network were decommissioned and responsibility for the routes transferred to a lower level of government, a process referred to as downloading. Portions of Highway 4 were transferred to the counties of Elgin, Huron, Bruce and Grey on January 1, 1998.[15]

The former portion of Highway 4 south of St. Thomas is now signed as Elgin County Road 4. The former northern portion is broken into several different roads:

• Huron County Road 4 from Clinton to near Wingham
• Bruce County Road 4 (London Road) from near Wingham to Riversdale
• A former concurrency with Highway 9 between Riversdale and Walkerton
• Grey County Road 4 from Walkerton to Simcoe County Road 124 just south of Singhampton

In 2017, the City of London announced that Highway 4 through London would be re-signed and re-routed via Richmond Street, Sunningdale Road, and Wonderland Road, resulting in a short concurrency with Highway 401 between the Colonel Talbot Road and Wonderland Road interchanges.[16]

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 4, as noted by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.[1] 

Division	Location	km[1]	mi	Destinations	Notes
Elgin	Southwold	0.0	0.0	County Road 4 south (Sunset Road) – St. Thomas  Highway 3 east – St. Thomas, Aylmer  County Road 3 west (Talbot Line)	Talbotville Royal; Highway 4 continues as County Road 4
		2.1	1.3	County Road 11 east (Clinton Line)
Elgin–London boundary	Southwold–London boundary	3.5	2.2	County Road 18 west (Southminster Borne)
London		6.0	3.7	Highway 401 west / Colonel Talbot Road – Windsor	Beginning of Highway 401 concurrency; Highway 401 exit 177
		8.8	5.5	Highway 401 east / Wonderland Road – Toronto	End of Highway 401 concurrency; Highway 401 exit 180
		15.9	9.9	Highway 402 to Highway 401 east – Sarnia	Highway 402 exit 100
		18.1	11.2	Exeter Road	Formerly Highway 135
		18.4	11.4	Wharncliffe Road S	Former routing of Highway 4 (before Jan. 2018) and Highway 2 along Wharncliffe Rd
		29.8	18.5	Fanshawe Park Road W	Formerly Highway 22 west
		34.0	21.1	Richmond St / Sunningdale Rd	Former routing of Highway 4 via Richmond Street south
Middlesex	Middlesex Centre	31.6	19.6	County Road 28 (Medway Road)	Arva
		37.2	23.1	County Road 16 (Ilderton Road)
	Middlesex Centre–Lucan Biddulph boundary	45.4	28.2	Highway 7 east to Highway 23 north – Stratford, Mitchell  County Road 7 west (Elginfield Road) – Ailsa Craig, Parkhill	Elginfield
	Lucan Biddulph	49.4	30.7	County Road 47 (Saintsbury Line)	Lucan
		50.1	31.1	County Road 13 (William Street, Alice Street)
	North Middlesex–Lucan Biddulph boundary	54.3	33.7	County Road 20 south (Denfield Road)	Clandeboye
		56.1	34.9	County Road 24 west (McGillivray Road)
Middlesex–Huron boundary	North Middlesex–Lucan Biddulph–South Huron boundary	62.2	38.6	County Road 5 west (Mount Carmel Road)	Centralia
Huron	South Huron	66.3	41.2	County Road 10 west (Crediton Road)
		68.4	42.5	County Road 6 east (Kirkton Road)
		72.4	45.0	County Road 83 (Thames Road)	Exeter; formerly Highway 83
	Bluewater	80.3	49.9	County Road 84 (King Street)	Hensall; formerly Highway 84
	Bluewater–Huron East boundary	84.3	52.4	County Road 12 (Kippen Road)	Kippen
		90.4	56.2	County Road 3 (Mill Road)	Brucefield
	Central Huron (Clinton)	100.7	62.6	County Road 13 east (King Street)
		100.8	62.6	Highway 8 – Goderich, Stratford  County Road 4 north (Albert Street)	Highway 4 continues as County Road 4
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus