The Conestoga Parkway, officially the Kitchener–Waterloo Expressway, is a controlled-access highway in the Canadian province of Ontario, located entirely within the Regional Municipality of Waterloo. The route travels east and then north through the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo, and is connected to Highway 401 via Highway 8 and King Street East. The name Conestoga Parkway is not a formal designation, but rather a local name applied to the divided expressway portions of Highway 7, Highway8 and Highway 85 through Kitchener and Waterloo. The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO), which built and maintains the route, refers to it as the Kitchener–Waterloo Expressway.
Originally conceived as a ring road in the 1940s, the concept evolved into a pair of at-grade four lane boulevards known as Henry Sturm Boulevard (east–west) and Dryden Boulevard (north–south), for which land was gradually purchased through the 1950s and into the early 1960s. The completion of Highway401 between Toronto and Highway8 in 1960 resulted in businesses relocating closer to it; consequently, traffic planners redesigned the boulevards into a continuous four lane expressway in 1962.
Construction of the Kitchener–Waterloo Expressway began in 1966 with the rebuilding of King Street East into a divided highway. This project also resulted in the construction of the interchange with the future expressway, which was named the Conestoga Parkway in 1967. The northern and western legs were built outwards from this interchange simultaneously over the following five years, opening in sections between 1968 and 1971. At that time, the route extended west to Fischer-Hallman Road and north to the southern interchange with King Street North. Two lane extensions opened in 1973 and 1977 to connect the parkway with New Hamburg and St. Jacobs, respectively. Portions of these were expanded to four lanes in the early 1990s. A series of projects saw the parkway completely rebuilt through its central section between the mid-1990s and early 2010s, including a concrete median barrier, additional lanes, and a new flyover ramp at Highway8.
An ongoing but frequently delayed project to construct a new freeway between Kitchener and Guelph will see a new interchange built at the existing Wellington Street interchange, in addition to the numerous bridges that have already been lengthened in the vicinity. There is currently no projected timeline for the construction of completion of this project as of 2022.
Route description
The Conestoga Parkway is a controlled-access freeway serving the twin cities of Kitchener and Waterloo. The route, which forms the rough shape of a backwards "L", serves as the backbone of the two cities. As the concurrency of Highway7 and Highway8 enters the city of Kitchener as a freeway from the west, it takes on the name Conestoga Parkway at the Waterloo Regional Road 70 (Trussler Road) exit at the western edge of the city. The parkway travels east until Highway8 diverges southeast toward Cambridge. Now carrying only the Highway7 designation, the Conestoga Parkway curves northward. At the Frederick Street and Victoria Street interchange, Highway7 exits the parkway and follows Victoria Street east toward Guelph; the parkway henceforth is signed as Highway85 to its northern end, which lies approximately north of the Waterloo city limits. The Conestoga Parkway is maintained by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO), which officially refers to it as the Kitchener–Waterloo Expressway. The speed limit on the parkway is throughout its length.
Western leg
At the Kitchener city limits at Trussler Road the concurrency of Highway7/8 continues west as a four lane freeway towards Stratford. Within Kitchener, the Conestoga Parkway consistently acts as the boundary for neighbourhoods to either side of it. Initially, it is sandwiched between the suburban residential neighbourhoods of Forest Heights and Laurentian West neighbourhoods, to the north and south respectively, as it travels east to Regional Road58 (Fischer–Hallman Road). There the median switches from grass to a concrete barrier, and the parkway widens to six lanes. It passes north of the Sunrise Shopping Centre before once again bisecting residential neighbourhoods, namely Forest Hill and Meinzinger Park to the north and Laurentian Hills to the south.
Approaching the Regional Road28 (Homer Watson Boulevard) interchange – which provides access to Regional Road 4 (Ottawa Street) – retail and light industry in the Alpine neighbourhood begin to flank the southern side of the Conestoga Parkway. It then crosses over the Canadian National Railways Huron Park spur, the adjacent ION LRT line, and Schneider Creek immediately west of an interchange with Regional Road53 (Courtland Avenue). Now serving as the boundary between the residential neighbourhoods of Rockway to the north and Vanier to the south, the route curves north-northeast to reach an interchange with the Freeport Diversion (also known as the King Street Bypass or Highway8 expressway).
Northern leg
The portion of the Conestoga Parkway that travels perpendicular to King Street East follows alongside Montgomery Creek. Now eight lanes wide, it passes over Weber Street and then curves north-northwest to avoid the Stanley Park Conservation Area, with the neighbourhoods of Eastwood to the west and Stanley Park to the southeast. The parkway follows the former alignment of Edna Street north to Frederick Street, with the neighbourhoods of Auditorium and Central Frederick to the west and Rosemount to the east. It briefly swerves northwards, passing under Frederick Street, Victoria Street, and the Kitchener GO line in quick succession. An interchange serves both Frederick Street and Victoria Street via the parallel roads of Regional Road62 (Edna Street) and Regional Road61 (Bruce Street); an interchange with Wellington Street follows soon thereafter. Due to the close proximity of these two interchanges, the Conestoga Parkway utilizes a brief local–express system for approximately .
Now passing through light industry in the Northward neighbourhood, the Conestoga Parkway makes a broad curve to the west to avoid the Grand River and meets Regional Road29 (Lancaster Street), which features a partial interchange. The median barrier ends immediately after, and a grass median begins. To the south is the neighbourhood of Fairfield, while Bridgeport lies to the north. The route gradually curves back to the north and enters the city of Waterloo at Regional Road9 (Bridgeport Road), with which there is an interchange.
The Conestoga Parkway enters Waterloo with the suburban neighbourhood of Lincoln Heights to the west and greenfields and Betchel Park to the east. After , it crosses Laurel Creek and encounters an interchange with Regional Road57 (University Avenue) before curving gradually to the west-northwest. With the neighbourhoods of Lincoln West to the south and Foxhunt to the north, the parkway encounters the first of two interchanges with Regional Road 15 (King Street North); Conestoga Mall lies to the northeast. It becomes parallel to Forwell Creek as it curves back northward, after which the parkway travels parallel to and east of the Waterloo Central Railway for the remainder of its length. An interchange with Regional Road50 (Northfield Drive) also carries the ION LRT line over the route as it travels through an area of light industry. Just prior to the second interchange with King Street North, the Conestoga Parkway exits Waterloo into the township of Woolwich. Both the parkway and Highway85 end approximately north of King Street North, after which the four lane freeway narrows and is known as Waterloo Regional Road85.
History Planning and construction
Although the concept of a ring road around Kitchener and Waterloo originated from the Kitchener-Waterloo and Suburban Planning Board in 1948, actual consideration was not given to it until it was recommended by a 1961 traffic study. By then, the opening of Highway 401 was attracting business away from the rapidly growing twin cities. Land was gradually purchased over the intervening years and picked up considerably when plans for the expressway system were first raised in late 1962. The ring road prior to this point had evolved to a proposed pair of east–west and north–south four lane boulevards known as Henry Strum Boulevard and Dryden Boulevard. However, Kitchener planning director Bill Thompson changed this to a single controlled-access highway. The Department of Highways had already begun construction in the fall of 1961 on the Freeport Diversion, providing a new divided crossing of the Grand River along Highway 8. The diversion, connecting with King Street south of the Grand River and at Fergus Avenue, was completed in 1963.
The provincial government reached a funding arrangement with Kitchener and Waterloo to cover 75% of the expected C$22 million ($ in dollars). cost, and officially announced the Kitchener–Waterloo Expressway on May21, 1964. The province eventually took over authority for the entire project in August 1965. Construction began in February 1966 with the awarding of a C$3 million ($ in dollars). contract to rebuild of King Street into a four lane divided highway from Fairway Road (renamed from Block Line Road in 1965) to Doon Road, including the half cloverleaf interchange that would serve the western and northern legs of the expressway system. A ground-breaking ceremony was held in the fall of that year, with dignitaries taking turns driving a bulldozer. In anticipation of the long-term construction, Highway8 was redirected along Fairway Road, Mill Street (now Vanier Drive) and the short section of Henry Sturm Boulevard that was constructed from Ottawa Street and Highland Road to Mill Street. The reconstruction of King Street was completed and opened in November 1967.
The Kitchener–Waterloo Expressway was unofficially renamed the Conestoga Parkway in January 1967 by a joint committee of the two cities. A shortlist of 12 publicly-submitted names was prepared, and included Mackenzie King, John Patrick, Eby-Erb (early Mennonite settlers), Dan Detweiller (a founder of the Ontario hydroelectric system), Frederick Banting, Centennial, Pioneer, Grand Valley, Golden Triangle, The Kingsway, and Conestoga. The name, a reference to the Mennonite conestoga wagon used by early settlers, was chosen unanimously by the committee.
On the northern leg of the parkway, early works construction along Edna Street, including the removal of several dozen homes, began in 1966, and tenders were called for construction of the route from King Street to Frederick Street in September. Full construction on the C$1.9million ($ in dollars). contract began in April 1967. It was completed and opened to traffic on September19, 1968. Another contract, to build the parkway from Frederick Street and Bridgeport Road, was awarded that month for C$5.1million ($ in dollars)., with construction beginning in October. On the western leg of the parkway, construction began in October 1967 on a C$3.6 million ($ in dollars). contract to build a segment of the parkway from King Street to west of Homer Watson Boulevard. This section, which was built along the alignment of Henry Strum Boulevard, was opened to traffic between Courtland Avenue and King Street on November25, 1968.
Work continued on the Conestoga Parkway into the early 1970s. On the northern leg, the segment under construction between Frederick Street and Bridgeport Road was completed and opened on October5 or 6, 1970. Just over a month later, on November13, the first portion of the expressway within Waterloo was opened ceremoniously by Minister of Highways George Gomme. Construction of this section, through undeveloped farmland between Bridgeport Road and the southern interchange with King Street North, took place beginning in 1969.