Ontario Highway 10

Highway 410 ends as Highway 10 begins

Highway 10 begins at the northern end of Highway 410 in Caledon, immediately north of Brampton. It follows Hurontario Street, a route originally carved through the virgin forests of Upper Canada in 1848.[5] Like the pioneer route it supplanted, the modern highway still divides many of the towns it serves. Within the Regional Municipality of Peel it acts as the meridian of the concession road system, with parallel sidelines described as being east or west of Hurontario (EHS and WHS, repsectively) and perpendicular concession roads divided into eastern and western segments.[6]

Passing to the west of Valleywood, a suburban community on the fringe of the Greater Toronto Area, Highway 10 begins as Highway 410 transitions from a divided freeway to a four-lane rural route with a centre turn lane. The highway presses north-northwest through farmland and rises gradually over the Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. To the west are the Forks of the Credit, a deep glacial ravine and provincial park renowned for its scenery. It passes between several large quarries and through Caledon Village before entering Orangeville at Highway 9, where it diverges from Hurontario Street.[7]

Highway 10 passes to the east of Orangeville on a bypass, switching between Hurontario Street and Prince of Wales Road alignments to avoid the business district. At the north end of the bypass, the highway curves and proceeds northward. It narrows to four lanes immediately north of Orangeville and then to two lanes north of Camilla, which along with Elba is one of two communities interspersed among the farmland that otherwise occupies the distance between Orangeville and Shelburne. At the hamlet of Primrose, Highway 10 turns west and becomes concurrent with Highway 89 into the town of Shelburne. The concurrency ends in the centre of Shelburne, as Highway 10 branches north.[7]

From Shelburne to Owen Sound, the road follows the northernmost part of the former Toronto–Sydenham Road, a colonization road that predates the division of the land in the area. As such, the road follows a diagonal path relative to the survey grid.[5] While it generally passes through farmland, it also bisects the communities of Melancthon, Corbetton, Dundalk, Flesherton—where it meets a former portion of Highway 4—Markdale, Mount Pleasant, Berkeley and Arnott before meeting Highway 6 at Chatsworth. The two highways travel north for approximately 13 kilometres (8 mi) through the community of Rockford. Highway 10 ends at 10th Street East, where it meets the western terminus of Highway 26 as well as the northern terminus of Highway 21. Highway 6 continues northwest, concurrent with Highway 21 through Owen Sound.[1][7]

Highway 10 through Caledon

Historically, Highway 10 follows the 19th-century stagecoach route known as the Toronto–Sydenham Road (the southern half of which later became absorbed into Hurontario Street). It travelled north from Dundas Street (later Highway 5) in Cooksville through Brampton, Orangeville and Shelburne to Owen Sound.[5]

In order to be eligible for federal funding, the Department of Public Highways (DPHO) established a network of provincial highways on February 26, 1920.[8] Portions of the network were then assumed by the DPHO over the following year. The section of Highway 10 within Dufferin County between Orangeville and Dundalk was taken over on July 8, 1920. This was followed several weeks later by the portion within Peel County (now Peel Region) between Cooksville and Orangeville on July 22. Finally, the DPHO assumes the portion within Grey County on October 6.[9] It was later extended south from Cooksville when the provincial government assumed the remaining stretch to Lakeshore Road (Highway 2) in Port Credit, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, on March 16, 1921.[10] Until the mid-1920s, highways in Ontario were named rather than numbered. The 166-kilometre (103 mi) Sydenham Highway was designated as Provincial Highway 10 in the summer of 1925.[3][11]

While initially unpaved,[12][13][14][15] construction of a hard surface along Highway 10 began in 1923. That year saw completion of paving between Port Credit and Cooksville, as well as between Chatsworth and Owen Sound.[15][16] Paving was completed between Cooksville and Brampton in 1925,[17] and for 11.8 kilometres (7.3 mi) north of Brampton and 9.7 kilometres (6.0 mi) northwest of Melancthon in 1926.[18] Further paving in 1928 and 1929 resulted in the highway having a continuous pavement from Port Credit to Dundalk.[19][20] Pavement was laid in and near the villages of Flesherton and Markdale in 1931,[21] and between Dundalk and Markdale in 1934.[22] The pavement was extended from Markdale to Berkeley in 1936, leaving an approximately 17-kilometre (11 mi) gap between Berkeley and Chatsworth.[23] This final gravel section was graded and paved in 1937 and 1938.[24][25]

Highway 10 initially entered Owen Sound along 9th Avenue East, before turning west onto 6th Street East, then north along 2nd Avenue East to Highway 21 and Highway 26 at 10th Avenue East.[26] The official Ontario road maps published between 1947 and 1967 show the route following 3rd Avenue East instead of 2nd Avenue East. Beginning in 1968, the combined highways followed 9th Avenue East directly to 10th Street East, as they do today. Within Orangeville, Highway 10 formerly turned west onto Highway 9 and ran concurrently with it through downtown along Broadway, then turned north to follow First Street (the Prince of Wales Road alignment).[14] In mid-1971, a bypass around Orangeville was completed, bypassing a short section of the Hurontario Street alignment.[27]

The northern terminus of Highway 10 in Owen Sound

As Mississauga was established in 1968 from Toronto Township (which included Cooksville),[28] and later Port Credit, and began to rapidly urbanize and as Brampton grew during the same period, portions of Highway 10 were designated as connecting links and transferred to municipal maintenance through the two cities. On April 1, 1970, a 5.2-kilometre (3.2 mi) segment of the route, from the Port Credit railway underpass to Burnhamthorpe Road, was designated as such. This was followed on December 10, 1970, with the creation of a 2.0 kilometres (1.2 mi) connecting link between Steeles Avenue to south of Clarence Street near downtown Brampton.[29] In 1997, these connecting links were repealed and the highway designation dropped altogether through those cities, shortening the highway to its present length.[30]

In 2009, a major project to widen two-lane sections of the southern portions of the highway was completed, and the highway is now four lanes wide from Highway 410 north to Camilla. From Shelburne north to Owen Sound, it remains a two-lane highway with several passing lanes in hillier regions.

During winter, the northern stretches of the highway that pass through the snowbelt region of Grey County are subject to poor visibility and road closings during windy conditions or winter storms.

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 10, as noted by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.[1] 

Division	Location	km[1]	mi	Destinations	Notes
Peel	Mississauga	−28.9	−18.0	Highway 2 (Lakeshore Road)
		−26.9	−16.7	Queen Elizabeth Way – Toronto, Hamilton	QEW exit 132
		−25.0	−15.5	Highway 5 (Dundas Street)
		−22.9	−14.2	Burnhamthorpe Road
		−21.8	−13.5	Highway 403 – Toronto, Hamilton	Highway 403 exit 119
		−20.8	−12.9	Eglinton Avenue
		−17.2	−10.7	Highway 401 – Toronto, London	Highway 401 exit 342
	Brampton	−13.5	−8.4	Highway 407	Highway 407 exit 44
		−11.6	−7.2	Regional Road 15 (Steeles Avenue)
		−8.5	−5.3	Queen Street
		−5.4	−3.4	Highway 7 (Bovaird Drive) – Vaughan	Highway 7 was downloaded to the Region of Peel in 1998; present-day Regional Road 107
		−1.0	−0.62	Regional Road 14 (Mayfield Road)
	Caledon	0.0	0.0	Highway 410 south – Mississauga	Highway 10 southern terminus; continues as Highway 410
				Hurontario Street south, Valleywood Boulevard	Former Highway 10 alignment; Highway 410 exit 21
		5.2	3.2	Regional Road 9 (King Street) – Terra Cotta, Bolton
		14.5	9.0	Forks of the Credit Road
		18.9	11.7	Regional Road 24 (Charleston Sideroad) – Guelph	Formerly Highway 24 south; south end of former Highway 24 concurrency
Dufferin-Peel Boundary	Caledon-Orangeville Boundary	28.3	17.6	County Road 109 wes – Arthur	County road serving as a Highway 9 bypass of Orangeville that links discontinuous sections of that highway
Dufferin	Orangeville	28.9	18.0	Highway 9 east – Newmarket	Highway 10 departs the Hurontario Street alignment
		29.4	18.3	Broadway / Buena Vista Drive	Former route of Highway 9
	Biggles	32.2	20.0	County Road 7 east (Hockley Road) – Loretto  County Road 16 west (5th Sideroad)
	Camilla	38.3	23.8	County Road 8 east (Mono Centre Road) – Mono Centre
	Primrose	48.6	30.2	Highway 89 east – Alliston	Beginning of Highway 89 concurrency and former triple concurrency with Highway 24
	Shelburne	52.6	32.7	County Road 124 north – Collingwood	Formerly Highway 24 north; end of former triple concurrency
		53.9	33.5	Highway 89 west – Mount Forest	End of Highway 89 concurrency
Dufferin–Grey boundary	Dundalk	72.7	45.2	County Road 9 west  County Road 9 east – Creemore
Grey	Chatsworth	124.5	77.4	Highway 6 south	Beginning of Highway 6 concurrency
	Owen Sound	137.3	85.3	Highway 6 north / Highway 21 south (10th Street E) – Shallow Lake, Southampton Highway 26 east (9th Avenue E) – Collingwood, Barrie	Highway 10 northern terminus; end of Highway 6 concurrency
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Closed/former       Concurrency terminus       Route transition

Hurontario Street

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ontario Highway 10.

Sources

Bibliography

• Shragge, John; Bagnato, Sharon (1984). From Footpaths to Freeways. Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Historical Committee. ISBN 0-7743-9388-2.

• Highway 10 pictures and information