I bet you didn’t know there are fun facts about Ontario roads! Neither did I, until I started researching the Muskoka Colonization Road. Here is some of what I learned from a book called Footpaths to Freeways: The Story of Ontario’s Roads, published in 1984 by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications. More to come in a later post. Enjoy!
Ontario’s first “roads” were actually its rivers and lakes, linked where necessary by portages (meaning “carrying place”) and used by natives and fur traders for hundreds of years.
Most roads in Ontario were dirt until well into the 20th century.
“Corduroy Roads” were made by laying logs across over dirt roads and were used to cross swamps and bogs. A big improvement to dirt and corduroy roads were “macadamized” (gravelled) roads, used from the mid-1830s. Another innovation from about the same time was planked roads, which cost about ¼ that of gravel roads. Lumber was cheap and readily available, but plank roads got torn up by horses’ hooves and had to be replaced more often.
“Statute labour” was introduced by the government in 1793, compelling landowners to provide up to 12 days’ labour a year for road and bridge construction, based on the assessed value of their property. This law has still not been repealed by the Ontario government, so is still in effect in any township that has not formally abolished it.
The original purpose of Yonge Street in Toronto was as a military road leading north, opening a route to the upper Great Lakes. As of August 1794 Yonge Street had been partly “opened” (cut out of the bush) but construction stopped because of the threat of American attack and the need to take the soldiers who were building the road to the Niagara Frontier.
Toll roads have been in use in Ontario since 1825.
In 1896, A.W. Campbell, Ontario’s Instructor in Road-Making stated in his report: “By far the greatest part of the mileage of the province is mud, ruts and pitch-holes.”
The first car owner in Canada was John Moodie of Hamilton. In 1898, he bought a single cylinder, gasoline-powered “runabout” manufactured by the Winton Motor Carriage Company of Cleveland.
Early automobiles were known by their detractors as “devil’s carts” “stink wagons” and “juggernauts of the streets”.
High-performance cars of 1902 could travel at a staggering 20 miles per hour [32 kph], prompting a maximum speed limit of 15 mph [24 kph] to be established in 1903. Early speed traps included two constables placed one-tenth of a mile apart, to clock each passing car using a stopwatch. To stop a speeding car, the police simply threw a plank studded with nails into the path of an oncoming motorist. If the driver could stop before reaching the plank, he was driving within the speed limit and was free to go. If not – hopefully he had a spare tire.
Great work, fun and very interesting!