King's Highway 403

This past April I drove a segment of King's Highway 403 in southern Ontario from KH 401 east to the City of Hamilton.

KH 403 is a 125.2 Kilometer/77.8 mile loop freeway of KH 401 from Woodstock northeast to Mississauga. Planning for KH 403 began in 1958 with the first segments opening in Hamilton between 1963 to 1969. A small section of KH 403 known as the Brantford Bypass opened in 1966 but would remain isolated for decades. KH 403 north of Hamilton to Mississauga opened circa 1980-1982. The Brantford Bypass was connected to KH 401 in Woodstock by 1988 and the final segment between Brantford east to Ancaster opened in 1997.

Functionally KH 403 was a limited access replacement for KH 2 between Woodstock and Hamilton. KH 2 can be seen in it's prime before the 400 Series freeways began to be built up on the 1955 Ontario Provincial Highway Map below.

1955 Ontario Highway Map

My approach to KH 403 was from KH 401 eastbound in Woodstock of Oxford County as seen in the cover picture above. Eastbound KH 403 traffic is quickly advised that 50KM over the speed limit (I love these threatening signs incidentally) will result in all sorts of bad things followed by a guide sign advising Hamilton is 70KM away.

At Exit 6 KH 403 east accesses County Route 53 before entering Brant County.

At Exit 16 KH 403 accesses Brant Road 25.

On the outskirts of Brantford KH 403 meets KH 24 on Rest Acres Road at Exit 27.

KH 403 east begins a multiplex of KH 24 north entering Brantford.

KH 403 east/KH 24 north crosses the Grand River and meets County Route 27 on Oak Park Road at Exit 30.

Traffic to downtown Brantford is along KH 403 east/KH 24 north is directed to take County Route 2 on Paris Road (former KH 2) at Exit 33.

At Exit 36 KH 24 north splits away from KH 403 in Brantford on King George Road.

East of KH 24 the route of KH 403 to Hamilton is signed as 30KM away.

East of Brantford the route of KH 403 opens up into a signed Greenbelt as it approaches the limits of the City of Hamilton. At Exit 55 KH 403 east meets Highway 52 in Hamilton.

At Exit 61 KH 403 east meets KH 6.

East of KH 6 the City of Toronto is signed at 76KM away.

At Exit 61 KH 403 meets Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway which is a freeway maintained by the City of Hamilton. I turned east of Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway towards Queen Elizabeth Way.

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