Ontario Highway 401

Ontario Highway 401, also called King's Highway 401, is a provincial highway in southern Ontario, Canada. It is 828.0 kilometres (514.5 miles) long. It starts near Ontario's border with Quebec, where the road is called Quebec Autoroute 20. The western end of the highway is in Windsor.

Macdonald–Cartier Freeway
Highway 401 within Ontario, Canada
Route information
Maintained by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario
Length	828.0 km (514.5 mi)
History	Proposed 1938 Opened December 1947 – October 11, 1968 Extended June 28 and November 21, 2015
Major junctions
West end	Ojibway Parkway in Windsor
Major intersections	E. C. Row Expressway in Windsor  Highway 402 in London  Highway 403 near Woodstock  Highway 407 near Milton   Highway 403 / Highway 410 in Mississauga  Highway 427 in Toronto  Highway 409 in Toronto  Highway 400 in Toronto Don Valley Parkway / Highway 404 in Toronto Highway 412 in Whitby Highway 418 in Clarington  Highway 137 to  Highway 416 towards Ottawa
East end	towards Montreal, QC
Highway system
Ontario provincial highways Current Former 400-series
← →

Construction on the highway started in 1947. By 1952, three different parts of the highway were finished, with the three parts connected by 1964. In 2013, another part of the highway was started. This part would extend the highway to the Gordie Howe International Bridge at the Canadian-U.S. border near Detroit.

In 2008, part of the highway between Trenton and Toronto was called the "Highway of Heroes". This was because many Canadian soldiers who were killed overseas arrived at the Trenton airforce base. Their bodies were then transported along the highway to Toronto.

This highway has a collector-express system in the Greater Toronto Area, with 12-18 lanes, making it the widest highway in the world. It reaches its maximum width between Dixie Road and the Highway 403/410 interchange in Mississauga.

Ontario Highway 401 Media

• 

  Looking east at the widest segment of Highway 401 which is near Toronto Pearson International Airport. In the foreground is the interchange with Dixie Road.

• 

  Highway 401 looking west at split with Highway 402 in London.

• 

  Highway 401 eastbound express lanes at Weston Road. This section has a volume of over 500,000 vehicles per day during the summer months.

• 

  Different colours are used on the signs on Highway 401's collector-express system to avoid confusion. The express lanes use green signs and the collector lanes use blue.

• 

  "The Basketweave", just east of the Highway 400 interchange, is a free-flowing crossover between the collector and express lanes.

• 

  Oriole GO Station looking north at Highway 401.

• 

  Highway 401 looking west from Don Mills Road overpass, with the Concord Park Place condo development and North York General Hospital in the background.

• 

  Highway 401 just west of Leslie Street

• 

  Through much of eastern Ontario, Highway 401 is a rural freeway with a grass median.

• 

  Highway 401 ends at the Quebec boundary, where Autoroute 20 continues towards Montreal, Quebec City, and the Maritime Provinces.