There are lots of little things to see on Ontario roads, and while in and of themselves each one may not be interesting, together I think they warrant enough to make a list. This may be added to over time as I come across new things.
To structure this list, we can use the journey to Beaverton along Lake Ridge Rd as an example. Lake Ridge Rd,1 fittingly, runs from the lake to the Oak Ridges Moraine. It then continues northward, transitioning to a Thorah concession road, before finally finishing as Osborne St in Beaverton.
Let’s take a look!2
MTO and non-MTO signal poles at the same intersection on Highway 2 (Kingston Rd). Example
MTO (Ministry of Transportation of Ontario) intersections are easy to spot because they use tapered cylindrical traffic signal poles as opposed to hexagonal ones. You can see a lot of these along Highway 2 where even though the road belongs to the region, the older intersections will have the cylindrical poles whereas the newer intersections will have the hexagonal ones.3 Current King’s Highways and 400-series off-ramps will have the MTO poles, too (although off-ramps might not have MTO signal heads).
County corners are small bits of road that connect pre-existing roads to make an even longer road. They’re called “county corner” because they typically are not built anymore (they tend to be very tight as they have to squeeze in-between existing property) and thus were created back when the current Region was a county, and they bend: they’re corners.
Lake Ridge Rd has a prominent county corner near Vallentyne where the road makes a 90º bend after turning left in the settlement to continue north. This corner was built by Ontario County (the precursor to Durham Region) to make Lake Ridge Rd longer by connecting existing British township roads together. If you’re travelling in Southern Ontario and the road makes a sudden bend by 90º and then another one, you’ve probably just gone around a county corner!
Lake Ridge Rd has Durham’s newest roundabout (as of this writing4). Roundabouts, if done properly, should feel a little small. This encourages drivers to slow down, as they can feel that they’re going too fast. Large vehicles with big tires can drive over the skirt in the centre to get around, while smaller vehicles can’t so their speed is still limited. In this way, the roundabout “adapts” for vehicle size.
Roundabouts are circular and all roads approach them head-on so drivers can’t just go straight on through. Older designs, called “rotaries” were tapered and had smooth exit and entrance roads so that drivers wouldn’t feel forced to slow down, leading to more dangerous conditions (even though rotaries feel smoother). York University has several examples of what were then cutting-edge free-flowing5 rotaries. (Why they’re replacing them with traffic signals and not roundabouts I have no idea!) Traffic circles had vehicles in the circle yield to vehicles entering, so they would actually lock up whenever there was any traffic!
There’s an emergency number posted at every North American level crossing you can call if something is stuck or broken. Call it and not 911 if you ever get stranded on the tracks. They can talk to trains. 911 can’t.
If your vehicle is stuck on the tracks, leave and walk away at a 45º angle to the tracks (preferably towards the train if one is coming) to minimize the chances you’re hit by flying debris. Then call the emergency number (usu. posted on the back of one of the X’s or the control box). Call 911 second or if someone is injured.
This is not visible on Lake Ridge Rd, and while this is not really visible from the ground, it is a neat part of Ontario history. Early Ontario highways were often constructed by connecting existing roads, and then when the highway got busy enough, a new, straighter, wider right-of-way was constructed and the old one abandoned. These abandoned rights-of-way are visible on aerial imagery (and to some extent, the ground), and dot the province. Some examples include:
Highways 12 & 48, where Highway 12 used to continue to the west, not the east like it does now. This intersection has two abandoned curves: one to the west, and one squiggle to the east. There is another matching curve on Highway 48 one intersection to the west.
There is a matching curve north of Beaverton at Highway 12 and Concession 8 that allowed the former Highway 12 to continue on its way.
Highway 427 used to terminate here and this explains why this small industrial access road has a large, heavy-duty, divided bridge.
In Oshawa, you can just make out the old ramps for Park Rd and Simcoe St.6
Lake Ridge pronounced as one word: “LakeRij” ↩
The following works better if JavaScript is enabled. However, it is still readable without it; some images may be missing. ↩
This can also be used to see if a pole has been replaced (perhaps because it has been run over): it’ll be the only one that’s not cylindrical. ↩
2020-07-29 ↩
Free-flowing used to be a magical ideal where drivers would never have to stop to get to their destination. We now recognize that getting drivers to slow or stop and consider their situation is a useful thing and the pursuit of “free-flow” cost a lot in other areas. ↩
This one is an old one: long straightaways connected by sharp corners: really takes you off-guard when driving it and throws you around. There’s a reason new ramps are smooth and curvy. ↩
