Highbury Avenue


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.

Route description

Highbury Avenue begins at South Edgeware Road in St. Thomas where it proceeds north as a two-lane highway until Wilton Grove Road in London. From there it briefly becomes a four-lane, 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, where it ends at Elginfield Road.

History

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.
In 1989, the interchange at the intersection of Bradley Avenue and Highbury was completed. In 1991, responsibility for Highway 126 was transferred from the provincial government to the City of London. Later in 1994, the Highbury Avenue interchange and overpass at Highway 401 was reconstructed. The reconstruction led to the cloverleaf interchange being converted to a Parclo-A4 interchange configuration with traffic lights, no longer being completely controlled-access.

Major intersections

The following are intersections along Highbury Avenue's remaining length.